


The Queen of Diamonds

by BadassBurgess



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, F/F, Friendship, Love, Prison, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:01:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21548767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassBurgess/pseuds/BadassBurgess
Summary: Tessa Blanchard is about to start serving a prison sentence at Stamford Correctional Facility for Women. With no hope of freedom or escape, there is only one thing for her to turn her attention to: becoming the Head Bitch in Charge.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

Two hundred and twenty five years. What an utterly ridiculous prison sentence that was to hand out. Why didn't they just say life in prison without the possibility of release? Tessa Blanchard didn't have an answer to that question. What she did know was that she was about to enter Stamford Correctional Facility for Women, and would never leave again, unless she was transferred. That made describing the place as correctional pretty stupid, too.

The prison van that had transported Tessa to her new home had arrived at its destination. She only knew that because the rear door opened. The guard who had been sitting across from her in the van for the past two hours got off his seat and crouched down to unfasten the rings around her ankles.

"Don't try anything," he warned her. It was the first exchange of words between them. Tessa had spent the entire ride glaring at him, looking right at him so that they made eye contact unless he chose to look somewhere else. She hoped it had made him feel uneasy.

"Do I frighten you, sir?" she asked, putting no respect on the supposedly polite form of address.

"Shut your mouth and move," she was told, her ankles freed from their restraints.

Two burly male guards from the prison facility were waiting at the back of the van to take charge of her. Tessa didn't bother to cause a fuss or try to go against what she was being told to do, knowing that it would only result in her getting filled in with their battens before being dragged inside. Prison guards didn't fuck around with cop killers, she had learned that lesson the hard way long before her trial.

The two Stamford guards helped Tessa down from the van, each one of them roughly taking one of her arms to frogmarch her in through the nearby entrance door that was being held open by another guard.

"She's your prisoner," the guard from the van said to the other two, formally completing the hand over. "Don't do anything to her that I wouldn't do."

Tessa didn't look back at him. She would never see him again, so there would have been no point. In any event, she was quickly bustled in through the door, which was slammed shut behind her by the third guard. She was then taken through a metal gate, which was locked behind her by the third guard. She found herself in a processing room much like the one she had gone through many times at her previous prison. Two female guards we waiting to deal with her.

At some point, out of Tessa's sight, the clear plastic bag containing the few pathetic possessions she was allowed had been handed over to guard number three. He dumped it on the desk in front of the two female guards and turned to leave, glaring at Tessa in the process. She didn't dignify him with a response of any kind.

Now that she was safely inside the prison, with no possibility of escape, the two guards who had brought her inside set about taking off the rest of her restraints.

"Step out of line, these will go back on, and you'll find yourself in solitary," one of them warned.

Again, Tessa didn't bother responding. Those two would soon disappear anyway. She knew enough about the system by now to know that they wouldn't be guards from the cell block she was being put on. The two women, however, would be. They were both blondes. One had shorter hair, was quite pretty, and didn't look much like a prison guard. The other had longer hair, a mole on her cheek, and looked like she could be a mean bitch when she wanted to.

"Step forward," shorter hair ordered. "Confirm your name, please."

Tessa stepped up to the table. "Tessa Blanchard, July 26th 1995." She then gave her prisoner number, answering the three questions that would be necessary in one go. The details were checked against a list. Meanwhile, the stern-faced woman was going through the bag of possessions in case anything was being smuggled in. Nothing was.

Shorter hair set a light grey shirt and a dark grey pair of pants on the table. "Your new uniform. You will go behind the screen over there to change into it."

Longer hair made a show up snapping a pair of black latex gloves onto her hands, giving Tessa a look that showed she enjoyed what she had to say. "But first, a full cavity search."

"Of course," Tessa said wryly. It was unnecessary, but it would be done anyway, just to give her a rough time. Predictably, they had decided to give the cop killer as 'warm' a welcome as they could. "Are you at least going to introduce yourselves before you molest me?"

Longer hair took on the task, starting with her own name. "Guard Rousey. This is Guard Young. You may address us as Ms or ma'am."

"What about cunt?" Tessa suggested.

"Try it, see where it gets you. Now, get behind the screen."

Tessa walked behind the screen, where she was given a full cavity search by Rousey, with Young watching on to make sure everything was above board, and to step in if Tessa kicked off. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.

When the search was over, Young handed Tessa her uniform, and she put it on. For the rest of her life, this miserable shit was what she was going to have to wear. At least it was comfy, she supposed.

"Take your things," Rousey instructed. "We're going to take you onto B Block now. It's currently on lock down after an incident this morning, so you'll be in your cell until dinner."

"Have I got a cellmate, or am I by myself?"

"You have a cellmate," Young said, choosing not to elaborate as both guards removed their gloves and dropped them in a plastic bin.

With that, Tessa took her bag of belongings and was escorted through two more locked metal gates, onto the block. She found herself walking into what passed for a leisure area. There was a pool table, which currently had no balls or cues on it, and a seating area with a TV high up on the wall. The TV was switched off. There was a metal gate in the far corner that Tessa assumed was where people came from the staff areas, and from other blocks.

Escorted further in, Tessa walked through a dining area, with plastic tables and chairs that were bolted to the floor. On the far side of the area was a wide serving hatch that was closed with a metal shutter. At meal times, prisoners who worked in the kitchen would serve the other prisoners with their meals from there, Tessa knew.

"Lifers are on the first floor," Young said, heading for a set of metal stairs. The ground floor was separated from the upper floor by netting, so that nothing could be thrown down from there at prisoners or guards. Thinking of guards, Tessa noticed that there were no others in sight. With the prisoners locked down, they were probably in the staff room with their feet up, drinking coffee, she thought with contempt.

"This way," Rousey said when they got to the top of the stairs. She turned right at the top, then left to walk down the landing. "Cell 118 is going to be yours, unless you give us a reason to put you in solitary."

And I'm sure you're looking for any little reason you can find, Tessa thought, continuing to keep her mouth shut.

Reaching cell 118, Rousey set about unlocking the door.

"Dinner is at five. You get an hour," Young said. "After that, there is an hour for recreational time, counselling or religious services. Your personal officer will talk to you about all of that tomorrow morning. For tonight, you'll be back to your cell after dinner."

Tessa nodded to convey her understanding.

"In you go," Rousey said, pushing the door open. "Deville, you have a cellmate," she said to the cell's inhabitant as Tessa walked in, before closing the door and locking it.

A dark haired woman with tattoos all up her side and big nose sat up on the bottom of the cell's two bunks, swinging her legs around to the floor. Big nose or not, she was attractive.

"Well, shit," the woman said. "If it ain't the Queen of Diamonds. We heard you were coming here. I guess there's no need to wonder what you're in for, they've been covering your trial on the news."

"It's good manners to introduce yourself before you go on a monologue," Tessa said in a tone that certainly wasn't friendly.

"Sonya Deville," the woman announced.

"Since you know what I'm in for, I think you should tell me what you're in for."

Sonya gave a single laugh. "Certainly nothing that compares to being a con artist and jewellery thief so high up the wanted list that the FBI gave you a special name, or that compares to shooting four cops dead."

"That's what I'm in for. I wanted to know what you're in for," Tessa said, still standing in the middle of the cell.

"Murder. All of the lifers in this block are in for murder. I killed two people, and that's all I'm saying until I know you better."

"Fair enough," Tessa shrugged. Approaching the bunks, she threw her bag of belongings on to the top one. "I guess I'm up here."

"You are for now. Hopefully I won't be your cellmate for long."

"Meaning?" Tessa demanded, ready to take offence.

"I'm supposed to share with my girlfriend. We've been moved to separate cells for fighting."

"You had a fight with your girlfriend?" Tessa asked with raised eyebrows, realising that Deville had meant a physical altercation, not a verbal one.

"We weren't fighting each other, we were fighting together. We beat the fuck out of another woman."

Tessa couldn't help grinning at that. "Oh. That makes more sense." Her first impression of Sonya wasn't too bad, so climbed up onto her bunk and lay down. "What are the guards like in here? That Rousey woman looks like a hard case."

"Yep," Sonya laughed, sounding like she was recalling something. "She's one not to fuck with if you can help it."

Tessa grunted, unimpressed. "What about Young?"

"She's nice, honestly. She's my personal officer, and she's done a lot for me."

"Nice to know they're not all assholes."

Sonya got up and went over to the water fountain in the corner of the cell for a drink. "Some of them are okay with most of us. I don't like your chances much. You killed four cops. Apart from fucking or killing kids, that's as low as it gets with the guards."

"Armed police turned up when I was robbing a jewellery store. They were ready to start shooting at me, so I started shooting at them. There was a gun fight. It's not my fault they didn't know I used to be a marine, and I was better at gun fights than they were."

The look on Sonya's face confirmed what Tessa had been expecting. She had a reputation with the inmates ahead of her arrival. That was good. Killing cops had probably won her favour with a lot of them.

After a moment, Tessa fixed her gaze on Sonya. "So, who's the Head Bitch in Charge in this hole?"

"Charlotte Flair," Sonya replied without needing to think about the answer.

Tessa allowed a smirk to appear on her face. "Not anymore."


	2. Chapter 2

B Block being on lockdown had at least given Tessa and Sonya a few hours to get to know each other before the time came for the cells to be unlocked for dinner service.

"The problem with being right down here at the end of the landing is we're among the last to be let out, so we end up at the back of the line for food," Sonya grumbled.

You might end up at the back, Tessa thought. The sound of doors being opened was coming closer to their cell. "While we're eating, you can point people out to me so that I can start putting faces to names."

"Sure. You can meet Mandy, too."

"Sounds good," Tessa said as she dropped down off her bunk, ready to leave. In truth, she didn't give a damn about meeting Mandy, who she already knew was Sonya's girlfriend. Being polite to her cellmate was a good idea, though.

Their cell door was unlocked and opened. Tessa saw that she had the pleasure of encountering Ms Rousey again.

"Okay, out you come," Rousey said. "Blanchard, after dinner you'll be meeting your personal officer."

On her way out of the cell, Tessa stood nose to nose with the guard. "Is it you, Rousey?"

"No, it's not. Now move. I don't like your attitude."

"I don't give a fuck what you like," Tessa informed her, matter of fact. With that, she caught up with Sonya on her way to the stairs.

"You're only going to make her be harder on you, giving her shit like that," Sonya commented.

"They're all going to be hard on me no matter what. To them, I'm the bitch who killed four cops. I might as well show them that I'm going to give as good as I get."

Sonya opted not to reply, leading the way down the stairs. As she walked down, Tessa saw a long line of women waiting to be served food. A couple of people were already sitting down with their meals.

"See what I mean?" Sonya sighed. "Right at the back of the line again."

"Fuck the line," Tessa said dismissively. As soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs, she started making her way between the tables towards the front of the line. She noticed several of the women looking at her and realising who she was. They started muttering to the people next to them.

Tessa reached the front of the line and cut in behind the person who was next to be served. She had barged in front of an athletic-looking African American woman, who unsurprisingly objected.

"Bitch, who the fuck do you think you are?"

Tessa turned around and glared at the woman. They were pretty much the same height, but Tessa was good at making her body language intimidating, and was much more muscular. She seemed to loom over the woman who had challenged her. "I'm the bitch who could snap your neck before a guard got anywhere near us. Want to try me? I'm already in here for life, so I don't give a shit either way."

The two women stood there nose to nose for a few seconds before another inmate said, "Leave it, Naomi."

Tessa didn't look at the woman who had spoken, keeping her eyes locked on Naomi, intent on winning the stare down.

After a moment, Naomi looked away, turning her head towards the serving hatch. "If you're going, go. We haven't got all day to fuck around."

Tessa turned and saw that it was her turn to step forward to be served. Two prisoners were apparently assigned to the task. One was a short, very pretty blonde. The other was equally short, dark haired and quite scruffy.

"Hi! A new face! And one that I recognise," the blonde said excitedly.

Tessa knew immediately that the attitude was being put on to butter her up. This woman was probably quite manipulative, especially of her sidekick, who didn't look like she was playing with a full deck of cards. Since it was her first day, and she was very hungry, Tessa decided to play along. "Hi! I'm Tessa. You are?"

"I'm Alexa. This is Nikki C. We have two people called Nikki on B Block."

"Nice to meet you," Tessa said politely. "What hideous slop have we got on offer today?"

"The food's actually not too bad here," Alexa reported. "Today it's turkey and mashed potato pie with vegetables. Give her a big portion, Nikki," she instructed, obviously hoping to curry favour.

Tessa watched her meal being put onto her plate. It didn't look the best, but it was better than the garbage that had been served at her previous prison.

"Would you like coffee, tea, fruit juice or water?" Alexa asked. She was laying the charm offensive on a bit thick for Tessa's liking.

"Tea, please. I don't like coffee."

"Really? God, I'd be lost without coffee," Alexa chuckled, pouring tea into a plastic cup. "There you go," she smiled, putting the cup on the tray with Tessa's plate of food.

"Thanks." Tessa took the tray and turned to look at the seating area. There were a couple of empty table towards the far side. Either of them would be perfect, she decided, figuring that Sonya would come and join her once she eventually got served.

Four people were eating at the first table that Tessa walked by. She didn't pay them any attention until a blonde woman pushed her chair back, deliberately hitting Tessa's legs and almost making her drop her tray. The blonde stood up, revealing herself to much taller than Tessa. She also looked quite mean. "I think we need to have a quick chat," she snarled.

"Yes, I think we do," Tessa said, guessing that she was face to face with Charlotte Flair, the woman Sonya had named as the Head Bitch in Charge of B Block. "You see, if you use those long legs of yours to push a chair into me again, I'm going to break them both."

Charlotte grinned icily. It was clear that she wasn't accustomed to receiving threats. Tessa was aware that they had an audience from the other three women at Flair's table. "You hear that, ladies? Ms Queen of Diamonds here is going to break my legs."

"I don't think she is," one of Flair's friends said, getting up to join in the confrontation. She had black hair cut in a bob, and might have looked kind of cute if she wasn't making a point of trying to appear tough.

Tessa was ready to drop her tray and start throwing fists, but then a male guard walked around the end of the line of prisoners waiting for food. He was a mountain of a man with long black hair, a beard, and a sleeve tattoo on one arm. "Charlotte! Bayley! Sit down, now!" he ordered before pointing at Tessa, and then at one of the empty tables. "You, over here!"

"Sorry, Mr Reigns. We were just saying hello," Charlotte said, giving Tessa another icy look before retaking her seat.

With the confrontation over, Tessa continued walking to the table she had just been instructed to sit at.

"You must be Tessa Blanchard," the guard called Reigns said when she approached him.

"Evidently you're wasted on this job, sir. With powers of deduction like that, you could have a real career somewhere."

"Save the attitude, sit down, and eat your food," he said before walking off.

By the time Sonya came over to the table with her tray, Tessa was halfway through her meal. Alexa had been telling the truth, she had discovered, as the food wasn't all that bad.

"I see you're making friends and influencing people," Sonya said with a grin when she appeared at the table. She had a very attractive blonde woman with her, and a dark haired woman who Tessa thought had a face that looked like a bulldog licking piss off a thorn bush.

"Who are your friends?"

"This is Mandy," Sonya said proudly, looking at the blonde. She was quite a catch, Tessa had to admit. She liked blonde girls herself, and there was no doubt that Mandy was smoking hot.

"And this is Shayna," Sonya said, looking at the bulldog. "She would have been your cellmate if I hadn't been moved in there."

"Bastards," Mandy hissed.

"Good to meet you," Tessa said. "Sit down if you're sitting, you're putting me on edge."

The trio sat down, Shayna next to Tessa, with Sonya and Mandy opposite them.

"So, you met Charlotte," Sonya said.

"Yeah. My guess is she was going to give me aggro about cutting the line. I don't think she planned on me threatening to break her legs."

Mandy's eyes widened. "You told Charlotte you'd break her legs?" She made it sound like the most courageous thing she had ever heard of.

"If she gets physical with me again, I will break her legs," Tessa said simply. "Who are the three flunkies she's got with her?" she asked, looking over at their table. "Reigns called that one next to her Bayley, I think?"

"Yes, the one who got up is Bayley," Mandy said. "She's a nasty, backstabbing piece of work. She'll be nice to you if you catch her by herself, but the minute your back is turned or she's with Charlotte, she'll throw you under the bus."

"Who are the others?" Tessa asked, busy attacking her dinner.

"The red head is Becky Lynch," Sonya said. "She's Irish. She walks around the place like she's something special, but she really isn't. She's trash with a loud mouth. Finally, there's Sasha Banks. If you think you've ever met someone with a huge ego, I can guarantee it was nothing compared to hers. Overall, they're a nasty bunch of bitches. They call themselves the Four Horsewomen."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Well, you know how it goes with horses: Once they've outlived their usefulness, you take them out back and put a bullet in them."

"You intend to take them on?" Shayna asked, talking with her mouth full of pie.

"There's only room for one top dog in a cell block, and I'll be fucked if it's not going to be me in this one," Tessa said.

"Those four will murder you sooner than let that happen," Mandy said, stating what she perceived to be a fact.

Tessa wasn't intimidated in the least. Equally, she wasn't reckless. "I never said it would be easy. You never know, I might end up looking for some friends."

No one jumped at the hint of an offer. Tessa wasn't surprised. These women had only just met her, and even if they respected her reputation, that didn't mean they wanted to fight at her side.

Shayna changed the subject, talking about some kind of vegetable growing project she was being allowed to start on during work periods. Not particularly, interested, Tessa sat there and ate without contributing much to the conversation.

When meal time was over, Reigns and two other guards, a man and a woman, who were new to Tessa, were there to supervise everyone going their separate ways to their therapy sessions, classes, or religious services. She spotted the female guard heading for her table, instinctively expecting to be the target of some kind of grief.

"Hi, Ms Evans," Mandy said.

"Hello, Mandy. I hope you're behaving yourself? You might get your cellmate back in a couple of weeks if you are," the guard said in a southern accent, glancing at Sonya as she spoke.

"I am. All I want is to be back with Sonya."

"Then stay on your best behaviour." Evans' attention shifted to Tessa. "Tessa Blanchard?"

"Yeah," Tessa said, lounging back on her chair.

"That's yes, ma'am," the guard corrected.

Tessa said nothing.

"Okay, Tessa, I'm going to be your personal officer. While everyone else is going about their business, you and I are going to have a chat for a while."

"Lucky me," Tessa muttered sarcastically.

Evans dismissed Sonya, Mandy and Shayna, then motioned for Tessa to get up. "Come on, let's go."

Sighing theatrically, Tessa lifted herself up off the chair.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking back into her cell, Tessa wasn't sure what to expect from the guard called Evans, who was apparently going to be her personal officer. She was a stern-faced bitch, that was for sure, and well built. If she was about to get a beating, Tessa intended to give as good as she got, but it likely wouldn't be easy. A lot of prison guards knew how to fight.

"Have a seat on the bunk," Evans instructed, closing the cell door behind them.

It wasn't going to be a beating, Tessa deduced. At least that was something. She was still expecting to get one from somebody, though. The cop killer had to be officially welcomed to prison, as the guards saw it. "I thought you were going to try and give me a kicking," she said as she sat down, perched on the edge of Sonya's bunk.

"I'm not going to give you a kicking," Evans said, sounding slightly offended by the suggestion as she sat down on the cell's only chair, which was bolted to the floor. "I'm your personal officer, and I assure you that so long as you always treat me with respect, I will always treat you with respect. Is that fair enough?"

Tessa didn't detect any dishonesty, so she decided to agree to the offer. "It's fair enough."

"Were you assaulted in your previous prison?" Evans asked, showing concern.

Tessa looked at the guard as if she was an idiot. "I killed four cops. What do you think?"

"I think that no matter what crime you committed, you shouldn't be assaulted in prison, by inmates or especially by guards."

Tessa gave a derisive laugh. "It must be nice living on your planet, Ms Evans."

"What did we just agree to about respect?" Evans said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Sorry. But it's pretty stupid of you not to believe I'd get treated badly by guards because of what I've done. I mean, I got here this morning and Ms Rousey gave me a full cavity search, even though it would have been in my notes that I had one before I left the other place."

"We cavity search all new prisoners."

"Of course you do," Tessa said, not believing it for a moment.

Evans sat back on the chair, taking up a more relaxed posture as she opted to change the subject. "You were in the Marines."

"Yep," Tessa said, tight lipped.

"Me too."

"Really?" Tessa asked, actually taking interest in the conversation for the first time.

"Yes, really," Evans said proudly. "I figure that's why I was assigned to be your personal officer, having something in common with you. I served in the Military Police. How about you?"

"Syria, fighting ISIS."

"Thank you for your service," Evans said sincerely.

Tessa nodded an acknowledgement. Yes, it was obvious that this was the reason she had been assigned to Evans. There had to be respect between fellow Marines. People who hadn't done it had no idea what it was like. Those who had, knew what a physically and mentally tough person you had to be to even make that grade to join up.

"Looking back on it, what do you think about your time in the Marines?" Evans asked.

"I enjoyed it," Tessa said without needing to consider her answer. "I was forced to be at my best, every day. Look at my body. I'm one hundred forty five pounds without an ounce of fat. I've been in this shape since my Marine training and I've never let it slip."

"You do look great," Evans said appreciatively. "You relish being pushed to your limits?"

"Yes. And I relish being better than other people. By that I mean being stronger than other people; being fitter than other people; being a better shot than other people; being smarter than other people."

"Smarter than other people? Is that why you became a con artist and jewellery thief?" Evans asked, keeping her tone non-judgemental.

"Yes. I enjoyed outsmarting people."

"What did you enjoy about it?"

Tessa leaned forward. That question wasn't the easiest to answer. "It was a rush, I guess. I would have people believing whatever character or narrative I was putting over, and that's a powerful position to be in. Obviously I was doing it for the money, too."

"You must have had plenty of money. I mean, you were prolific enough to be wanted by the FBI. Why didn't you just stop?"

"I don't know, really," Tessa admitted. "You know when you used to be outside playing when you were a kid and your parents would call you to come in, but you'd always want to stay out for five more minutes?"

"Yeah, that's when you end up falling out of the tree," Evans said, and they both laughed.

It took Tessa a moment before it sunk in that she had just shared a joke with a prison guard. That was damn sure a first. Ms Evans was very good at her job, she realised. The conversation had been masterfully led along, encouraging her to open. Prison guard or not, this woman was worthy of respect, and not just because she had been a marine.

"So, you went on that one job too many," Evans said.

"Yeah," Tessa sighed. "I was thinking about stopping, doing maybe two or three more after the one that went wrong. I don't even know how it went wrong, to be honest with you. One minute I was in the jewellery store, robbing the place. I had convinced the two girls working there that I was a police officer who needed to take away a certain few diamond necklaces as evidence because we believed they were stolen. Then, the next minute there were a bunch of police cars outside with a cop yelling at me through a megaphone to come out."

Now that they were reaching the infamous part of the story, Evans had leaned forward, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "I've got to ask, why did you decide to start shooting? You're no idiot. You served in the marines. You had to know the situation was lost."

"At that point, the situation wasn't lost," Tessa insisted. "There were three cars out there, five cops. I figured there were two big things in my favour: Firstly, they wouldn't expect me to try and fight my way out. Secondly, I was a better shot than them."

"You felt that confident about being a better shot?"

Tessa let the look on her face answer that one. Of course she was a better shot than a bunch of street cops. "Come out now! This is your last chance! That's what one of them shouted at me. It was then or never; act or surrender. I whipped out my gun and opened fire."

"And killed four cops," Evans said.

"Six shots fired. Three headshots. Two near misses. One guy hit in the neck. I was reloading when I heard the shop's emergency exit door at the rear get kicked or smashed in. That was when I knew the situation was lost. More cops had gone around the back. There was doubt they would drop me as soon as they made it into the shop space where I was unless I took the exact action that I chose. I tossed my gun, got down on my knees, put my hands behind my head and started shouting that I was surrendering."

"That's quite a story," Evans said, again keeping her tone non-judgemental. "Did you really think you were going to get away, though? I mean, after shooting four cops dead? You'd have been the most wanted person in the country."

Tessa shrugged. "Ms Evans, I was already wanted enough for the FBI to give me a nickname. I'm not sure how much more wanted you can get than that."

"You can call me Lacey when we talk one on one," Evans offered. "Out on the block, it will have to be Ms Evans, but Lacey is fine in here."

"Ms Evans will do for now," Tessa said. She wasn't going to start forming a connection with a guard that easily. "And as for your question, I was about to get away. There were five cops out front of that store. I had killed four of them. The last one wouldn't have been far behind him, then I would have been away. But they came in the back way, and I was fucked."

Evans shifted her weight on her chair while she thought about how to put what she wanted to say next. "Honestly, Tessa? I already knew that story. I watched you tell it at your trial. It surprised me that you chose to plead guilty and tell the jury exactly what you did."

"It's not like I had a chance of being found not guilty," Tessa said dismissively. "So I figured I'd save myself from having to go through all the bullshit of giving testimony and facing cross examination. The one thing I had left was the truth, so I told it. And now here I am, for the next two hundred and twenty five years, apparently."

"And now here you are," Evans agreed, nodding slowly. "And here I am as your personal officer. With that in mind, let me run you through all of the basics you need to know about how your time here in Stamford will be spent." She went on to do just that, laying down the rules and telling Tessa what her daily schedule was going to be.

"You mentioned work time," Tessa said a few minutes later. "How do I get a job?"

"You want to work? That's good," Evans said, smiling.

"It's going to be a boring existence in here if I don't."

"True," Evans admitted. "You'll have to speak to the Governor about getting a job. Luckily, she wants to see you tomorrow morning."

"I have to go cap in hand, begging to do work in a prison?" Tessa objected strongly, getting up and starting to pace up and down the cell.

"You're in here for four murders, Tessa," Evans reminded her. "Honestly, you're quite lucky to have been put in B Block. You could easily have been assigned to C Block, which let me tell you, is a lot less pleasant."

Tessa grunted, not impressed with the statement.

"You'll also be asked if you want to enrol in any of the therapy classes or religious groups we have."

"I'm not interested in that shit," Tessa said, shaking her head. "All that matters to me is keeping myself in shape." And becoming the top dog in this dump, she didn't add.

"You're permitted to exercise in your cell, and during your time outside in the yard. The yard is quite big and has a running track that you can make use of. Obviously you're only allowed into the yard if you're well behaved, so it's up to you if you get that privilege or not."

"I'll be a good girl," Tessa promised sarcastically as she sat back down on the bunk.

"Good," Evans said, taking the reply seriously despite the manner in which it had been delivered. With that, she got up off the chair. "Well, it's been good to talk to you, Tessa. I'll be going with you to see the Governor in the morning, so I'll see you then."

"Yeah, bye," Tessa said. Overall, the chat with Evans hadn't been too bad. Judging by her experience of some of the guards at her previous prison, she knew she could have drawn a worse personal officer. It was probably best to bank the win while she had it.

Evans walked out of the cell and locked the door behind her, leaving Tessa alone until Sonya returned at the end of her hour doing whatever the hell it was she did after dinner every day. At least, she had expected to be left alone. However, only a few minutes after Evans departed, the door was unlocked again.

Tessa was still sitting on the bed, but she quickly got up when a male guard entered. As soon as she set eyes on this one, she got a vibe that this was going to be the visit she had been expecting. She was ready to square up. "Who are you?" she demanded.

The guard, who had short dark hair, and was quite well built, closed the door behind him. "Turn around. Face the wall. Hands on the wall. I'm searching this cell."

"You didn't answer the question," Tessa pointed out as she did as she had been told.

"To you, I'm Mr Ambrose. I'm the senior guard on this block," he said as he started ransacking the cell, throwing Sonya's things across the floor. Tessa knew that if she moved, she would get a filling in, and would be sent to solitary. That was why he was really here; to provoke her. He was going to have to work harder than that.

"What's this shit?" Ambrose demanded, picking up the plastic bag of possessions that Tessa hadn't unpacked yet. He launched it all across the floor and started kicking through it with one of his heavy boots. "Just crap, huh?"

Tessa used the discipline ingrained in her by the marine's to keep her mouth shut, denying him the reaction he wanted. Before she knew what was happening, she was slammed chest first into the wall. Grabbing her by the hair, he pushed her head against the wall, turned at a slight angle, hurting her cheek and her nose.

"You killed four cops," he snarled into her ear. "Four good men. Men with families. I'm going to make sure your life in here is a misery, Blanchard. You'll wish this state had the death penalty by the time I'm done with you." She had expected to be assaulted to drive the point home, but he actually let her go and headed for the door. It was possible that her lack of reaction had thrown him off.

Tessa waited until the door closed behind him before moving from her position against the wall. She ran over to the door and shouted at it, hoping that he would be able to hear her voice as he walked away down the landing. "Come at me face to face, Ambrose! Come at me one to one! I'll be your fucking death penalty!"


	4. Chapter 4

Maybe B Block at Stamford wasn't so bad, Tessa was starting to think by the next morning. The bunk bed wasn't horrendously uncomfortable, and the cell was actually quite well soundproofed, masking the annoying screaming and shouting that often happened during the night from inmates who wanted to be disruptive. A further bonus was that Sonya Deville didn't snore. Overall, it had allowed her to have a good sleep, and she awoken feeling refreshed.

The previous evening, Tessa had chosen not to mention her visit from Mr Ambrose to Sonya. She was used to fighting her own battles, and in any event, there was nothing Sonya could do to help her. Instead, there had been small talk about both of their backgrounds. Tessa hadn't been all that interested in the conversation, but there had been nothing else to pass the time.

Morning began with a visit to the showers. After that, it was time for breakfast. Dressed quicker than Sonya and Mandy, Tessa decided not to bother waiting for them. She didn't need company to walk to the dining area. Actually, she wanted to walk alone, hoping that Charlotte Flair and her so-called Four Horsewomen would see her and pick up on her demeanour, which was that she owned B Block now.

Approaching the dining area, she saw that she had been on the minds of her group of friends. They had been standing off to one side, away from the line of people waiting to be served food. Once they saw her approaching, they moved over and joined the line, essentially daring her to join it right behind them.

Tessa didn't even break stride, walking right up to the back of the line, standing behind the woman called Sasha. In front of Sasha, the redhead called Becky was facing in Tessa's direction. "Hey, look who it is. It's the girl who thinks she's a badass," she announced in a strong Irish accent.

At the front of the group of four, Charlotte turned around, acting like she hadn't known Tessa was there. The look on her face told Tessa that if Charlotte could have gotten away with going for her right then and there, she would have. She made sure to have a similar look on her face in return.

"So it is," Charlotte snarled. Stepping slowly forward, she got in Tessa's face, her eyes burning with hatred. "Listen, bitch, and listen good. You want to go around being called the Queen of Diamonds? That offends me. I'm the Queen around here."

Tessa made a point of looking her up and down, making it clear that she didn't think much of what she saw. "Really? You look like a bag of dog shit tied at the top to me."

Banks kept her voice quiet, so that no one outside of the exchange could hear. "You're going to end up dead, talking like that."

"That a fact?" Tessa asked, not intimidated in the least. "I don't know what you're in here for, but I'm going to tell you a little about me. Those four cops you undoubtedly know about aren't the only people I've killed. In Syria, while serving as a Marine, I killed 6 others. Two of them were in a bunker. I snuck inside, came up behind one of them, a woman. I clamped my hand over her mouth and slit her throat before she knew I was there. Unlike what you see in movies, a person makes a lot of horrible gurgling and spluttering noises when they die like that. The guy in the bunker with her heard that, and came to investigate. I threw my knife at him from five feet away when he rounded the corner. It hit him right between the eyes. So, if any of you want to come after me, try it. I don't mind adding four more life sentences to my total."

"Charlotte! Sasha! Tessa! Knock it off!" Ms Young called, walking over to them, having noticed the confrontation.

Charlotte stepped back, still giving Tessa a look that could kill. Noticeably, none of the four said anything.

Yeah, you think about what I just said, Tessa thought, glaring right back at the tall blonde. The other three Horsewomen were all giving her evil looks, but she focused her attention on their leader.

"You, move to the front of the line," Young instructed Tessa, wanting to split them up.

Tessa did as she was told without objection. She had made her point, and was now getting to skip the line as well. It was a good few minute's work.

Due to it being at the order of a guard, no one objected to Tessa cutting the line this time. Behind the serving counter, there was a friendly face to greet her, although whether the friendliness was genuine or not was another thing entirely.

"Hi!" Alexa beamed. "How was your first night?"

In the moment, Tessa decided to be nice. It wasn't a smart strategy to alienate everyone on the block. Besides, fake or not, Alexa's smile was beautiful. She looked like she belonged on TV, not serving prison food. "Not as bad as I expected, honestly."

"That's good! What can I get you? Tea? Orange juice?"

"Juice please," Tessa said.

"Come on, Nikki," Alexa encouraged the weird looking dullard next to her, who was taking her time fixing Tessa's tray. Toast, scrambled egg, and some nasty kind of cereal seemed to be the morning's offering.

It was kind of amusing to Tessa that Alexa made Nikki sort out all of the food, while all Alexa did was pour the drinks. She fixed Tessa's juice, then moved on to the little plastic bowl of milk for her cereal. "I'll put you a bit more in than I should," she confided quietly.

"Thanks," Tessa said. There were worse people to have sucking up to her than the woman in charge of meals.

"And if you want a job, I have a favour I can call in to get you in the kitchen. It might take a while, but it's better than some of the other jobs."

A favour, Tessa thought, managing not to smile. In her mind, she pictured guards sneaking into Alexa's cell for some executive relief. She looked the type. But a job in the kitchen didn't sound too bad. "Thanks, Alexa. See what you can do for me."

"I will," she promised. As Nikki handed over the food tray, Alexa added a wink to her vow.

It dawned on Tessa as she went to sit down at a table that maybe Alexa found her attractive. Maybe she had been reading the signals slightly wrong, and Alexa had been flirting, not sucking up to her. That was an interesting prospect to consider. Apart from Mandy Rose, who was spoken for, Tessa considered Alexa to be the most attractive prisoner she had met so far.

A tray was set down on Tessa's table. Looking up, she saw Mandy.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead," Tessa replied.

Soon, Sonya and Shayna came over as well, completing the quartet that had eaten dinner together the previous evening. Tessa was glad that they were gravitating towards her already. She hoped it was due to the way she was standing up to the Four Horsewomen. A plan was starting to form in her head that this was going to become her own group of four, who would bring down the current rulers of the roost.

That was for further down the road, though. Over breakfast, the topics of conversation were more routine. Tessa didn't mention her unpleasant encounter with Ambrose, but she did say she had met him. For breakfast service, there was another guard who was new to her. He had long black hair and a beard. As he walked around the dining area, he looked like he thought rather a lot of himself.

"That's Rollins," Mandy said, noticing Tessa watching him. "He's not all that bad, but he's known to not be great at keeping his dick in his pants."

"He fucks inmates?" Tessa asked.

"Yeah. It's against the rules, obviously, but it's always consensual, so no one says anything."

"Well, if he gets his dick out in my cell, I'll put it off," Tessa promised. Men weren't her thing, let alone prison guards.

The meal time was coming to an end when Tessa saw Ms Evans entering the block through the gate that had to led to the staff areas. Evans headed straight for the dining area, looking at Tessa.

"This is going to be for me," she said to her dining companions. "I've got to go and see the Governor."

"Good luck," Sonya said just before Evans reached the table.

"Tessa, the Governor is ready to see you. Let's go."

Opting not to give her personal officer any attitude, Tessa got up and went with her.

"How was your first night?" Evans asked, in personal officer mode.

"Quieter than I expected. I slept well. I'm looking forward to my work out after we're done here."

"Unless the Governor gives you a job. If she does, you'll be straight to work."

"Oh, okay. I'll have to work out later then. What jobs are there in B Block?" she asked as Evans unlocked the gate to the staff areas.

"There are various cleaning jobs. There are jobs in the kitchen, or picking up trash in the yard. Once you've been here longer and proven yourself trustworthy, you might be able to get work in the library, the shop, or as an orderly in one of the classrooms. Hell, with the shape you're in and with your military background, you might even be able to become a tutor for exercise classes."

"That would be good," Tessa said, actually excited about that possibility.

"That would take a significant record of good behaviour, though," Evans warned.

They had walked down a hallway while they were talking. Tessa had seen a staffroom, a chapel and couple of classrooms before they had reached a staircase. Heading up the stairs, they came to a door with a plaque fixed to it. It featured the insignia of the prison service. Below that were the words: Zelina Vega. Prison Governor.

The Governor was a woman. That was good, Tessa thought as Evans knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Evans opened the door and stepped into the office. "Tessa Blanchard, ma'am."

Walking into the office, Tessa was surprised by what she saw. The Governor was attractive, young, and tiny. She was sitting behind a fancy oak desk, but if she had been standing, Tessa would have been surprised if she was five feet tall. The black business suit she had on was tailored excellently. It must have cost a lot of money. On her face there was a look that wasn't exactly welcoming.

"Have a seat," Vega said, motioning to a chair in front of her desk. There was no friendliness in her manner, only professionalism. That was fine with Tessa. She noticed that Evans remained near the door after closing it.

Sitting down as instructed, Tessa said nothing. She hadn't yet been asked a question.

"The reason I've had you brought to see me, Tessa, is the nature of the crime that brought you here. You killed four police officers. While I have total confidence in my staff to treat all inmates equally, I know there are certain crimes that raise passions in people. Child killing or cop killings are the ones I'm thinking of."

If you had total confidence in your staff, this conversation wouldn't be happening, Tessa thought.

"I want to assure you that you will be treated fairly and professionally. But, if you do have any issues, you are to speak to Ms Evans, who will make sure I am made aware." There was a pause for a moment. "You don't say much, do you?"

"You didn't ask me anything," Tessa responded simply.

"Okay," Vega said slowly. "So, you understand what I said? If you have any problems regarding your treatment, you know how to get them addressed?"

"Yes," Tessa said, having no intention of running to Evans, and certainly not to Vega. She disliked the woman already. There was something condescending about her demeanour, as if wearing an expensive suit and sitting in a fancy office made her something special. In Tessa's eyes, that certainly wasn't the case.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, as far as settling in?"

"No. Ms Evans talked me through the basics. I would like a job, though."

"Good, because all inmates who are able are expected to work here. You will start out with one of the basic cleaning jobs. If you work hard and don't cause problems, you can work your way up to better jobs, which also pay more money."

"Alright. So what's my first job?"

Vega turned her attention to her computer. Tessa was partially able to see the screen from where she was sitting, due to its angle on the desk. Some kind of list appeared on it. She guessed it was a list of jobs and who was assigned to them.

"Hmmm," Vega said, looking at the list. "Let's move Ember to trash picking, and you can have her entry level job. We definitely need two people on it."

"Which is?" Tessa asked, already sensing that Vega had picked out something unpleasant for her. She got the impression that despite the assurance of fair treatment, Vega had no time for the cop killer either. Her only concern was avoiding having a nasty incident putting a black mark on her record as Governor. She probably had a career ladder that she wanted to climb.

Vega looked at Tessa a smiled, her perfect white teeth gleaming. "You'll be cleaning the B Block bathroom."

"Of course I will," Tessa said, managing to keep emotion out of her voice. "Thanks, Governor. Thank you very much."


	5. Chapter 5

Following the meeting with Governor Vega, Tessa had been escorted to a supply room by Ms Evans. She had been issued with overalls and cleaning supplies to assist her with the task that she had been assigned.

It was tempting to voice her displeasure at being put on bathroom duty, but she realised there was no point. Even if Ms Evans bothered to sound sympathetic, which in itself was unlikely, it wouldn't change the Governor's decision. It was plain that Vega hadn't liked her, so the job was likely to be hers for some time before she was allowed to move up, even if she did her work to a high standard.

"All set?" Evans asked when Tessa had her dark blue overalls on and her bucket of supplies in hand.

"As set as I'm ever going to be. I can't say I ever saw myself cleaning public bathrooms for a living."

"Do what needs to be done," Evans said. There was an element of one marine speaking to another in the way she said it.

"I will," Tessa grumbled. "After all, it's the only way to get a better job."

"Precisely. Come on, let's go."

Tessa was escorted back onto B Block. On her way through the dining area, she encountered Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, who were cleaning the tables. They too had the nasty overalls on, along with yellow rubber gloves. Apparently the cleaning kit was standard issue for all prisoners who needed it.

"Oh, hi!" Alexa smiled. "You got a job, then?"

Resist sarcasm, Tessa told herself. "Yes. Vega put my on bathroom duty."

Alexa grimaced sympathetically. "Eww. Hopefully it won't be for long."

"I hope not," Tessa said. She was reminded of Alexa's offer to call in a favour and get her a kitchen job. It couldn't come soon enough, assuming it was going to happen at all.

"Back to work, Alexa. Come on, Tessa," Evans instructed.

Tessa followed the guard, who led her to the bathroom. It was at the far end of the lower level. Approaching the entrance, Tessa didn't know what she was about to get into as she hadn't used the bathroom yet. She pictured a real shit infested hell hole that smelled so bad she could barely stand to go inside. And it was going to be her job to clean it.

Evans stood aside when they reached the entrance to the bathroom, waiting for Tessa to go in first. When she walked in, she found her partner on the job scrubbing one of the sinks. Things were getting better and better, she thought. "Oh, it's you," she said, completely lacking enthusiasm.

"You're Ember's replacement?"

"Yes, Bayley. Tessa is now working with you," Evans said. "I'll leave the two of you to it. Behave yourselves, or you'll both end up in solitary."

"There won't be any problems, Ms Evans," Bayley promised.

"Good," Evans said, turning and walking out.

"Is that a fact? That there won't be any problems?" Tessa asked once the coast was clear.

"I'm not looking to start any," Bayley said. "I've already been busted back down to this job. I'm trying to work my way back up to the library, where I used to work. Besides, being in solitary is horrible."

"That we can agree on," Tessa said. By herself, Bayley seemed a lot different to how she acted around the Four Horsewomen. Tessa was wary of that though, remembering that Sonya had mentioned what a two-faced bitch she could be.

"Right. Let's clean," Bayley said, returning to scrubbing the sink. She was wearing the now familiar blue overalls and yellow rubber gloves.

With a sigh, Tessa moved over to the sink next to the one Bayley was working on. At least the place wasn't the kind of shit hole she had imagined. But then, logically, it couldn't have been, since there were people assigned to clean it every day. She put her bucket down on the floor, took out the pair of gloves she had been issued with and put them on. With that done, she took a spray bottle and a cloth, and got to work on the sink. The sooner the nasty work was over, the better.

"I have to ask, was that story you told us this morning true?" Bayley asked, not looking away from her task.

Oh great, we're going to have small talk too, Tessa thought. "Yes, it was true. Every word of it was true. I've killed ten people. Six with guns, four with my knife while I was in the marines."

"You must have been an impressive marine. Why did you leave?" Bayley asked, stopping for a moment to look at her.

Tessa also stopped scrubbing. "Enough questions about me. You know some of my background and why I'm here. I have a rule: Since everyone in this place knows why I'm here, I expect the same knowledge from other people. What are you in for?"

"I killed someone with a knife, too," Bayley said. "We had been friends since school. Over time, things went sour between us. There was a furious argument one night, and she pushed me too far. I stabbed her five times. One of them went through her heart, so she died. I got thirty years for it. I'm hoping to be out in ten or so for good behaviour."

"Yeah? Then why were you busted down from working in the library to bathroom duty?" The question stung Bayley a bit, Tessa saw.

"Fighting," she admitted. "There's a relatively new girl on B Block, Dakota, who thought it was a good idea to embarrass Charlotte in front of everybody in the yard. It fell to me to teach her the lesson that it was a stupid thing to do."

Hearing that kind of talk, about how Charlotte thought she could run roughshod over the whole block, dictating who did what or when, made Tessa angry. She dropped her cloth and spray bottle into the sink and marched over to Bayley, who found herself backed against the sink she was cleaning before she had a chance to flee.

"Just so everybody knows where everybody stands," Tessa snarled. "If you try sending me a message like that, or if any of those three clowns you run with try sending me a message like that, you'll be leaving this place a lot sooner than ten years from now. I'll cut your throat and watch you bleed to death. Is that clear?"

"It's clear," Bayley said, looking like she was close to panicking.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page," Tessa said cheerfully, backing off. "Let's get this bathroom cleaned then, shall we?"

* * *

After the thoroughly unpleasant hour spent cleaning the bathroom, there was another first for Tessa. Prisoners were allowed an our outside in the yard for fresh air, exercise, or simply to chat and relax, if they so chose.

Tessa's intention was to spend the hour exercising as she hadn't worked out at all since her arrival. Barely had she started warming up when she saw Alexa Bliss coming over. She saw her workout plans going west quickly.

"Hi!" Alexa said, offering a dazzling smile. "How has your morning been?"

"How has my morning been?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow at the stupidity of the question. "I've just been scrubbing toilets for an hour, Alexa."

"Right. Uh, sorry. I'm just a bit shy." Alexa's cheeks started going red.

"Shy? Why's that?" Tessa asked.

"God, this is embarrassing," Alexa said, shaking her head. "I imagined this conversation going a lot differently in my head."

Giving up on her warm up exercises for now, Tessa folded her arms across her chest, waiting for Alexa to get control of herself.

"It's just... How can I put this?" Alexa floundered. "I'm just going to come out with it. I've had such a crush on you since we were allowed to watch your trial coverage on the news. When they said you were coming here, I couldn't believe it. And now here I am, blurting all this out to you like an idiot, when I bet you're not even interested in women."

"I'm interested in women," Tessa said, trying to process what she had just heard. "Actually, I've always been interested in women. It's a surprise to hear you had a crush on me by watching me on the news. You make me seem like a famous actress or something."

"Not at all," Alexa was quick to say. "You're no actress, you're a legit badass. I mean, look at you. You're beautiful, and your physique is incredible. Look at your arms. There's no other way I can say it. You look strong enough to pick me up and break me in half with your bare hands."

"Is that still supposed to be a compliment, or are we moving past the compliments now?" Tessa asked, still standing with her arms folded across her chest.

"It is still a compliment, trust me. I sounded like a school kid and an idiot, but I've said it all now. You can walk away or tell me to fuck off. Go ahead."

Tessa allowed a slight smile. "I'm not going to tell you to fuck off. This is all surprising, Alexa, as I'm sure you can understand. I've literally just arrived here. I'm getting to know everyone. There are people I haven't even met yet. What I'm saying is I'm not ready to get into anything right now."

"I get it," Alexa said, looking a bit downcast nonetheless. "If you're not interested in me, just tell me."

Tessa had to think about how to respond. The last thing she had expected was to have a fellow prisoner come on to her on her first full day in the place. There conflicting thoughts on her mind. Rushing into something, even casual sex, would be stupid for many reasons, not least that she knew almost nothing about Alexa. On the other hand, it had been so long since she'd had sex, and Alexa was undoubtedly gorgeous. Being in prison was obviously a problem too. Sex between inmates wasn't allowed, or at least it wasn't supposed to be. Finding a time and place to make it happen, assuming she wanted to, would not be easy.

"So you're not interested," Alexa said sadly. Taking Tessa's moment of silence as an answer, she turned to walk away.

"Alexa," Tessa said, causing her to turn around and come back, looking hopeful. "I don't know you, or anyone here. I need to settle in, and we need to learn more about each other before anything can possibly happen."

"That's fine," Alexa agreed readily, jumping on the positive tone she was hearing.

"You are very pretty," Tessa added. Now she felt like an idiot. Chatting women up had never been a talent she had possessed, so it seemed she had at least that much in common with Alexa. "If I was going to get with someone in here, I'd probably want it to be you. Now is just not the time, not yet."

Alexa nodded, trying to contain her excitement. "I do understand. Maybe we could get together during social time this afternoon, assuming we don't all get locked down again like we did yesterday? Get together to talk, I mean."

"Alright," Tessa decided, "we can sit down and chat later. Right now, I need to get my workout in while I have the chance."

"Of course. I'll leave you to it," Alexa said with a smile.

As Alexa walked away, Tessa started her warm up routine over from scratch. It was hard to concentrate because her mind was now on Alexa. It had been a curious encounter, but it was welcome. It had been a long time since Tessa had been told she was attractive by anyone, and it felt good. It was even better coming from someone who was hot herself. Far from exercising, what Tessa wanted to do most now was bust a nut.

"The frustrations of being in prison," she muttered to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Getting a good workout done had left Tessa feeling a lot better about life. Getting a sweat on had always been something she enjoyed, and it was no different now that she was in prison. A further bonus was that the showers were not too bad on B Block, either. The water was nice and warm, and the pressure was quite powerful. Her previous prison had been a lot worse in both respects.

Feeling somewhat upbeat following the shower, she headed back to her cell for a change of clothes. Each prisoner had two sets of the awful grey shirts and pants, so they always had one to wear while the other set was in laundry.

The cell was empty when Tessa got there. She figured Sonya was off somewhere with Mandy, loving it up during leisure time, no doubt. Who could blame them?

Tessa pushed the door closed behind her and got undressed out of the sweaty shirt that she had been wearing in the yard. She stepped out of the pants, and tossed them aside with the shirt, forming a laundry pile in the corner of the cell.

That was when the door opened. Tessa turned and saw Becky, Sasha, Bayley and Charlotte file in.

"Look, ladies, she's putting on a show for us," Charlotte said. There was a nasty sneer on her face as she pushed the door closed.

"Get the fuck out of here. I'm only going to tell you once," Tessa said aggressively. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was in a very dangerous situation. She was prepared to fight to get out of it.

"I don't think we will," Charlotte said. The calmness in her voice contained its own kind of danger. "Get her on the bed," she instructed her three flunkies.

Whatever Charlotte had in mind, Tessa had no intention of letting it happen. As the three of them stepped forward towards her, Becky was the closest to Tessa. She unleashed a right hand that came with such speed and power that Becky had no chance to see it coming, much less react to it. The punch struck the redhead right in the middle of the face with a truly sickening thud. Her lights were turned out immediately. The force of the blow spun her around on the way to the floor, and she landed right on her face.

Seeing their friend demolished like that stopped Bayley and Sasha for a second. Charlotte, however, had her mission, whatever it was, in mind. "Get her!" she barked.

Sasha lowered her head and charged at Tessa, burying her shoulder into her stomach and forcing her backwards until they hit Sonya's bunk. Tessa started punching Sasha in the back, but then Bayley was on her. Two women at once was too much to fight off, and they were able to muscle her down onto the bed, lying on her back.

"What are you doing? Get the fuck off me!" Tessa yelled, struggling for all she was worth.

"Get on top of her, and shut her up!" Charlotte instructed Bayley.

Bayley got onto the bunk and lay on top of Tessa, pinning her down. Sasha managed to grab both of her wrists, and pinned them down too. All Tessa was able to do was wildly kick at nothing. She attempted to scream for help, but Bayley pressed a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound.

"Hmmmp!" Tessa cried, fearing that she was going to be suffocated to death.

"Good, now keep her there," Charlotte said, pleased with the work that had been done.

Still trying to thrash around and kick, Tessa did her best to cry out, but Bayley was pushing down hard on her mouth, smothering the attempts. Then Tessa felt her underwear being pulled down. Why was Charlotte taking her panties off?

"Stick that in her fucking mouth," Charlotte said, handing the underwear to Bayley.

"No!" Tessa cried when Bayley's hand was removed from her mouth, but the panties were mercilessly crammed in there, and Bayley put her hand back in place.

"Mmmmmmph!" Tessa roared, still doing her best to struggle. The next thing she noticed was Charlotte brandishing a roll of silver duct tape. Irrelevantly, she wondered how an inmate had gotten hold of it.

Charlotte stretched a length of tape out from the roll and squeezed in next to Sasha to lean over Tessa.

Knowing the tape was going to be put over her mouth, Tessa tried her best to spit out the underwear when Bayley removed her hand. It was too tightly packed in though, and Charlotte was able to press the tape down over her lips.

"Keep holding her," Charlotte ordered.

The instruction wasn't really necessary, for Sasha was doing a good job of keeping her arms pinned down. With Bayley lying on top of her, Tessa couldn't hope to get free. She was powerful to resist as Charlotte wrapped the tape around her head several times, doing it so tight that her cheeks hurt.

I'm in deep shit here, Tessa thought, trying her best not to panic. If these bitches were going to strangle her or something, there was nothing she could do to stop them. Trying to shout and scream through the gag was only making her breathless. Fearing passing out, she accepted the fact that she had to calm down, in the hope that an opportunity to fight her attackers off would come.

"Good. She's settling down," Sasha said, a cruel expression on her face as she looked Tessa in the eye. Tessa felt like she was being regarded as nothing more than a slab of meat.

"Let's get her wrists taped," Charlotte said.

Sasha released one of Tessa's wrists, holding the other against a metal bar that made up the frame of the bunk beds. Charlotte went to work wrapping tape around it to secure it in place. With her free hand, Tessa hit Charlotte with a few punches, but they were weak, as she had no leverage to put into them.

"Get the other one. She's still struggling," Bayley said.

After securing the first wrist with several layers of tape, Charlotte repeated the process with the second one. Lying there panting through her nose, Tessa tried to comprehend what was going on. If they had come to kill her, it didn't make sense that they were going to the trouble of tying her up like this. Charlotte could already have strangled her by now if that was what she wanted. One thing that she did know for sure was that she had overplayed her hand by standing up to Charlotte without first having a crew of people with her. Four on one was a stupid position to have put herself in. Assuming she got out of this alive, she was going to have to start playing things a lot smarter from now on.

"Okay, you can get off her now," Charlotte said to Bayley. "Help me with her legs. I want them tied to the poles like her arms are."

Bayley did as she had been told. Tessa got one decent kick in, hitting Charlotte on the shoulder, but it seemed not to bother her. With Bayley's help, Charlotte soon had Tessa's ankles taped to the framework, leaving her trussed up and unable to move. With her mouth stuffed and sealed up, she was completely helpless.

"Right, you two, get her out of here," Charlotte said, motioning towards Becky, who was moaning faintly as she started to regain consciousness.

Tessa could see blood on the floor around Becky's head. There was at least satisfaction to be found in that. She had done some serious damage to one of the bitches before they had overpowered her.

While Bayley and Sasha went over and carefully helped Becky up, Charlotte stood and watched them. She had moved into a position where she blocked Tessa's line of sight, so she was left with nothing to do but wait for whatever was to come. She tried straining against her bonds, but found that she was totally unable to move.

"Get her to the doctor," Charlotte instructed her flunkies. "Tell them she fell down the stairs or something. Then make sure no one comes up here. The coast should be clear, but make sure."

"Got it," Sasha said.

With Bayley doing most of the work, the barely conscious Becky was helped out of the cell. Sasha closed the door behind them, leaving Tessa alone with Charlotte.

Tessa found herself holding her breath as Charlotte slowly turned around, scared of what might be about to happen. She did her best not to let her fear show, but Charlotte had to know she was frightened. In this situation, who wouldn't be? Instinctively, she knew that no guards were coming. No help was coming. Somehow, Charlotte had made sure of that. Ambrose was probably in on it, Tessa thought.

"That was quite a punch, I'll give you that," Charlotte said. The admiration even seemed kind of genuine.

Watching the woman looming over her warily, Tessa made no attempt to respond.

"Do you know why I'm in here, Tessa? Do you know why I'm going to be in here for the rest of my life?"

"Nmm," Tessa mumbled, frustrated by the effective gag. The underwear had soaked up the saliva in her mouth, leaving it horribly dry. There was also the unpleasant taste of the material, plus the adhesive from the tape. Shortly, that would be the least of her concerns, she was sure.

"I'm a serial killer," Charlotte said with an evil grin. Tessa could tell that she was revelling in scaring her. "I killed five women before I was caught. Want to know how I killed them?"

No, Tessa thought.

"I picked them up at bars or clubs, got them to come back to my place, then I tied them up just like you're tied up right now. I would keep them alive for a couple of days, maybe three, bound and gagged, while I repeatedly raped them. Then, when I was done, I strangled them."

Tessa decided that if this was the end for her, she wasn't going to give Charlotte the satisfaction of trying to beg for her life.

"As much as I would get off on killing you, I'm not going to do that today," Charlotte continued. As she spoke, she stroked Tessa's cheek affectionately. Clearly, as with most serial killers, she wasn't wired up correctly in the head. "What we're going to do today is have some fun."

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Tessa watched Charlotte pull a large tube of candy out of her pants pocket. Even stranger, she then produced a lump of butter wrapped in some kind of packaging from her other pocket. Then, when Charlotte started lubing up the tube, it dawned on Tessa what was going to happen. Her panties had been removed and she had been tied up with her legs apart for a very specific reason.

"This is probably going to hurt, but a little bit of pain never hurt anybody," Charlotte said. There was a twisted smile on her face as she moved into position.

"No! Fuck off!" Tessa tried to shout at her. The attempt was pointless, of course.

"Shut up and take it, bitch," Charlotte snapped. She forced the candy tube between Tessa's legs.

The pain was incredible. Tessa screamed into her gag, straining against her bonds. Not of it had any effect on Charlotte, apart from probably turning her on, as she started ruthlessly fucking Tessa with the tube.

The worst part for Tessa was that despite the pain, her body started to respond against her will to what was being done to it. She was being violated to the point where she could feel herself starting to bleed, but she was also getting wet from arousal. It was a truly sickening, awful feeling.

"You're bleeding," Charlotte scoffed. "What's the matter, never been with a guy with a big dick before?"

Tessa closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the vicious bitch who was brutalising and humiliating her. The pain kept coming with each thrust of the candy tube into her, causing her to keep crying out in pain.

After a few minutes, Charlotte seemed to have had enough of whatever enjoyment she was getting from the torture. Tessa felt the candy tube removed, and risked opening her eyes. Charlotte was looming over her once more.

"Nmm mmmm, plmmse," Tessa begged.

Charlotte held up the blood and bodily fluid-soaked candy tube. "Let this be a lesson to you. I own you, like I own everyone else on this fucking block. Think yourself luckily I haven't killed you. Oh, and you can keep this," she added, setting the tube down on the small table with Tessa and Sonya's possessions. With that, she walked calmly out of the cell, closing the door behind her.

When the door closed, Tessa's emotions came flooding out. Wracked with pain, violated, humiliated, she burst into tears. Never in her life had she felt so helpless, or so dirty. Charlotte had taken her dignity, along with all of the other mental and physical damage she had done. And still she couldn't get free or cry out for help. Someone was going to find her like this.


	7. Chapter 7

It felt to Tessa as if she had been lying there for hours, bound ridiculously tightly, gagged, and in a lot of pain from being violated by Charlotte Flair and the large tube of candy. The tube was standing on the table, taunting her with its presence, soaked in her blood and bodily fluids. Several attempts to cry out for help had produced no result. It was likely that none of the prisoners were in their cells – they were elsewhere, making the most of their leisure time. In any case, they probably wouldn't have been able to hear her.

As long as it felt like she had been waiting for rescue, Tessa knew that it had probably only been half an hour or so since the attack had ended. She hoped Sonya would decide to come back to the cell soon. The amount of pain she was in told her that she needed to be looked at by a doctor.

Suddenly, the cell door started to open.

"Hmmmp mmm!" Tessa yelled as loud as she could.

Alexa Bliss walked into the cell, freezing in shock in the doorway at the sight of Tessa lying on the bottom bunk, wrists and ankles encased in duct tape and a gag wrapped around her head. "What the fuck?" she cried.

"Hmmmmpppp!" Tessa pleaded, looking at the unlikely saviour. She had no idea why Alexa was in her cell, or even how she knew which one her cell was. All that mattered was being released.

"Jesus Christ, what happened?" Alexa cried, hurrying over to the bed. She opted to work on getting the gag off first. Unwrapping the multiple layers of tape wasn't easy, and it hurt Tessa by pulling her hair.

"There's blood everywhere. Who did this to you? What the fuck did they do?" Alexa asked, looking horrified.

The last layer of tape was pulled free, although it tried its best not to give up its grip on Tessa's lips. For a second, Alexa seemed to think she had successfully removed the gag.

"Mmm," Tessa encouraged her, trying to work the panties out of her mouth.

"Oh, Christ," Alexa cried, quickly pulling the panties out for her. "What happened?" she asked, tossing the saliva-soaked garment aside.

"Flair," Tessa said, gratefully gasping for breath now that she could breathe properly.

"That vile, evil bitch! What did she do to you?"

"Untie me, Alexa, please. This hurts."

"I will. I will," Alexa promised, going to work on the tape binding Tessa's right wrist to the bunk bed. "I can't believe she's done this to you."

Getting untied seemed to be taking ages for Tessa. When her wrist finally came free and blood circulation properly returned to her arm, it caused another wave of pain, making her groan.

"What did she do?" Alexa asked again, working on the other wrist.

"She violated me with that thing," Tessa said, hating how pathetic she sounded as she pointed at the candy tube.

Alexa looked at it in horror. "Oh my god, that bitch is a psycho," she said, going back to work on freeing Tessa's wrist. "I can tell she's really hurt you."

Tessa's wrist came free. Wincing in pain, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. For the first time, she was able to see the bloody mess at the bottom end of the bed. It turned her stomach. There was more blood than she had expected to see. "Oh shit," she gasped.

"It's going to be okay," Alexa said gently. I'm going to untie you, then I'm going to get one of the guards, who will take you to the doctor. Tell me how this happened? I mean, how did Charlotte get you in that situation?"

While Alexa worked on freeing her ankles, Tessa recounted what had happened. "The four of them walked in here while I was getting changed. I knew it was going to be bad, so I made sure to get the first shot in. I knocked Becky the fuck out, and I think she smashed her face in again when she went down. Unfortunately, Sasha and Bayley were able to overpower me and get me on the bed. They pinned me down while Charlotte tied me up, and, well, you know what happened after that."

"Fucking vile creatures," Alexa said angrily. Finished with untying Tessa, she helped her to sit up on edge of the bunk. "Are you going to be okay while I go and fetch one of the guards?"

"I don't want one of the guards," Tessa said, on instinct as much as anything else.

"Don't be stupid. You've been brutally attack and injured. You need to tell them the story so that action can be taken against those four pieces of shit. Besides, you need the doctor, and only the guards can take you to the medical unit."

"Fine," Tessa mumbled. She sat with her head bowed, trying to suck up the pain she was in as best she could. As Alexa rushed towards the door, she forced herself to look up. "Alexa?"

"Yeah?" Alexa asked, stopping in the doorway to look back.

"Thank you."

Alexa nodded seriously. "Sure. I'll be back in a minute." She pulled the door closed behind her, and was gone.

Please don't let her bring fucking Ambrose in here, Tessa thought. That bastard would have no sympathy. She considered it likely that he'd had some involvement in what had happened in her opinion. Charlotte had been able to get her hands on duct tape from somewhere, and it certainly hadn't come from the commissary.

Only a minute or so passed before Tessa heard footsteps jogging down the landing towards her cell. Her military expertise allowed her to tell that the person approaching wasn't heavy enough to be a man. That was good. She didn't want a male guard seeing her in this state.

The door opened, and Tessa's least favourite of the female guards rushed in. Ms Rousey had concern on her face, though, and it looked genuine. "Tessa, what happened? Who did this to you?" she asked, going straight over to her.

"I'm saying nothing about who did it," Tessa said. Having Charlotte and the others sent to solitary didn't interest her. She would have her own retribution for the day's events, in time. "Just get me to the doctor. I was violated with that thing, and it's injured me. I've lost some blood," she said, pointing at the candy tube when she referred to it.

"Jesus, that thing is massive," Rousey said, looking at the tube. "No wonder you were bleeding. I'll make sure we get that removed, and get this cell cleaned for you. But first, let's do the most important thing, which is to get you dressed, and take you to Dr Baker. I'll escort you there. Tessa, you should tell me who did this to you, and how it happened. There could be serious charges brought against the perpetrators."

"I don't want to say anything," Tessa insisted. "But I do want to see the doctor. I'm in pain, and I need to be cleaned up."

Looking around the cell, Rousey spotted Tessa's clean uniform that she had been about to change into when the Four Horsewomen had barged in. She picked up the t-shirt and pants, and passed them to Tessa. "Here you are. Put these on for me, and I'll take you to the medical unit."

Alexa had come back to the cell with Rousey. She was lingering just inside the door, having closed it to give Tessa some privacy. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"Dr Baker will take good care of her," Rousey promised. "You can go now, Alexa. I've got this from here."

Tessa didn't bother to argue about Alexa being sent away. Rousey had a way of delivering instructions that left the recipient in no doubt that they were going to do as they were told. She possessed the manner and tone of an authority figure, even if she didn't have a title to match it. She was senior guard material one day, Tessa found herself thinking.

Looking at Alexa, Tessa felt bad for the way she had initially judged her as nothing but a manipulator. The truth had quickly revealed itself. Yes, Alexa had a serious crush on her, but she also clearly had a warm heart. Bizarrely, she found herself thinking that Charlotte's attack might have at least one positive effect if it brought her closer to Alexa.

"Tessa?" Alexa asked, still wavering over leaving the cell.

"I'll be okay, Alexa. Thank you for helping me," she replied, managing to at least attempt a smile.

"Okay. Hopefully I'll see you soon." With that, Alexa opened the door and left, closing it behind her.

Now that it was only the two of them in the cell, Rousey tried to push for information again as Tessa started to get dressed, moving gingerly because of the pain she was in. She spoke with a level of sensitivity that didn't exactly fit her tough appearance. "Tessa, I know you're hurting right now, and I understand that a lot of inmates decide they're never going to talk to guards no matter what. Maybe you're thinking you'll take retribution against whoever did this yourself. That would be a very bad idea."

Saying nothing, Tessa finished putting her uniform on. Rousey offered a hand to help her to her feet. Tessa wasn't stubborn enough to refuse to accept the assistance, knowing that she needed it.

"Was it Flair?" Rousey asked once Tessa was on her feet and they were looking eye to eye. "I know you've been seen confronting each other more than once."

It was tough to do, but Tessa made herself speak to the guard with respect. "Ms Rousey, I get that you're doing your job, but believe me when I tell you, I'm not going to say anything about who did this to me."

"Alright," Rousey sighed. "You're a stubborn woman. I won't pester you any more on it. Just so you know, though, you'll find yourself in Governor Vega's office when you're discharged from medical. She'll be asking you the same questions I am."

"Vega can fuck herself," Tessa said, making it clear that she had zero respect for the Governor. "Can we go to the doctor now?"

"Yes, of course," Rousey said. "Do you need help to walk?"

"I think I'll be okay. Might have to take it slowly." To test it out, Tessa walked across the cell to the door. It was painful, but she could manage. "I'll be okay. Let's go," she said, opening the door.

"I'm right here with you," Rousey said as they stepped out onto the landing. "If you need any help, say the word."

Tessa knew that Rousey was doing what her job required. However, she did seem sincere about it, and Tessa appreciated that. Maybe she wasn't all bad after all?

They made their way along the landing to the stairs. When they got there, Sonya happened to be coming up, heading back to the cell. Seeing Tessa obviously struggling to walk, being accompanied by a guard, her expression became one of concern. "Tessa, are you okay? What happened?"

"Deville, go back downstairs, please," Rousey said. "You're not going to be able to go back to your cell until it has been cleaned, so find somewhere to sit for me."

"What's happened?" Sonya demanded, although she did turn around and head back down the stairs.

"Alexa will tell you. Tell her I said it's okay to tell you," Tessa said. "I've got to go and see the doctor."

"Did someone attack you?" Sonya asked as the trio reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Deville, move it! She doesn't need to be harangued by you right now," Rousey said sternly. She pointed to an empty table in the dining area. "Sit down over there and wait for me to come back."

"Bitch," Sonya muttered as she walked away, just loud enough to make herself heard.

Walking through the dining and lounge areas felt like a walk of shame for Tessa. Everyone seemed to stare at her, likely wondering what had happened. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

"Okay, let's go through to the medical unit," Rousey said when they reached the locked gate. "Lynch is already in there, in a right state. I bet you don't know anything about that, though?"

The way the question was asked told Tessa that Rousey knew she was the one who had injured Becky, and therefore knew the Four Horsewomen had attacked her. But without anyone saying anything on the record, nothing would be able to be done about it.

"Becky got hurt?" Tessa asked, making like it was news to her.

"If I had to guess, I'd say some punched her, and she smashed her face again when she went down. Her face is seriously messed up."

Every cloud has a silver lining, Tessa thought as she was escorted out of B Block.


	8. Chapter 8

Stamford's medical unit looked like it had been recently renovated, Tessa saw when she was escorted in by Rousey. The unit had eight beds and what she could best describe as a nurse's station at the end closest to the entrance. Only two of the beds were currently occupied – one of them by an older woman who Tessa didn't recognise from B Block, who was asleep, and the other by Becky Lynch, who was being attended to by a man in a doctor's coat. His body blocked most of Tessa's view of Becky, so she couldn't yet see the damage she had inflicted.

There were two doctors working in the medical unit, apparently. The other was a young dark haired woman, also wearing one of the white coats. She quickly walked over when Tessa and Rousey entered the unit.

"Who do we have here?" the doctor asked.

"This is Tessa Blanchard," Rousey said. "She's been attacked by someone, and she's been injured, uh, downstairs."

"Oh, right," the doctor said, grimacing. "Tessa, I'm Dr Britt Baker. Come with me, and we'll get you taken care of."

Tessa could have done without the flowery bedside manner. All she wanted was to be examined, treated if there was anything that could be done to lessen the pain, and sent back to the block. She supposed it was better than being spoken to like a piece of shit, though.

Dr Baker led Tessa and Rousey over to the bed opposite the one Becky was in. It gave Tessa an opportunity to look over at the woman she had knocked out. Becky seemed to be out of it, likely as the result of a serious concussion after first the knockout punch, then the face first landing on the floor. The male doctor was in the process of trying to clean dried blood off her face.

Pretty much the whole of the left side of her face was covered in it, making it hard for Tessa to tell exactly what the damage was. One thing she could see was that Becky's nose was severely broken and crooked. It made her feel quite proud, to have wrecked the bitch to such an extent with one punch.

"These two have got previous with each other, so I'm going to have to cuff them both to their beds," Rousey said to the doctor.

"Really?" Tessa said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, really. I have to get back to B Block, and I can't take the risk of you two ending up fighting in here. And if you have no intention of causing trouble, there's no reason to object to being cuffed, is there? Either way, you'll be lying on the bed."

"Fine," Tessa sighed. She was hurting too much to want to spend time arguing. Besides, Rousey didn't seem like the kind of person who was open to persuasion or argument once she had decided on something.

As Tessa got onto the bed, Dr Baker drew a curtain around the bed for the sake of privacy. "Okay, Tessa, take your pants and underwear off for me and lie down."

"I'm not wearing any underwear," Tessa said grumpily, reminded of the fact that she had spent more than half an hour with it stuffed in her mouth. She took off her pants, which wasn't an especially easy task because of the pain she was in. With the job done, she did her best to get comfortable on the bed.

"Right, give me your wrist," Rousey said. Tessa obliged, seeing no point in objecting again, and it was cuffed to the side of the bed. "I'll see you when you get back onto the block," the guard said when she was done.

Tessa considered thanking the guard for her help, but then decided not to. Fuck Rousey and her handcuffs, she thought.

When Rousey moved the curtain aside and left, Dr Baker began her examination of Tessa's injuries. "This looks nasty," she said, sucking air in between her teeth. "You're going to be hurting for a while. This is going to bruise up pretty badly. What were you assaulted with?"

"You know those big tubes of candy you get? They're made of cardboard or whatever? It was one of them."

The doctor looked up for a moment, making eye contact. She was clearly horrified by what she had just heard. "God, that's appalling. You should make a statement against whoever did this to you."

"What happened to Becky? She looks a real mess," Tessa said, completely ignoring what had been said to her.

"She had a fall," Baker said, sounding like she didn't believe the story. "She has a concussion, a broken nose and a couple of nasty cuts that are going to have to be stitched up. She'll be spending a few days here, I'm afraid."

Don't stitch them up too well, Tessa thought. Ideally, she wanted Becky scarred for life. Yes, she had been through a terrible ordeal, but it had only happened because of a three on one attack. She had shown would happen to anyone who came at her one on one with what she had done to Becky. Now it was time to start thinking about how to play things smarter. The attack was a setback, but the mission remained the same. Tessa Blanchard was still going to become the HBiC on B Block, it was just a question of coming up with a better way to make it happen.

Putting together a group of women who were willing to stand with her against the Four Horsewomen was the way it needed to be done, Tessa felt sure. The question was which women to choose. Sonya and Mandy seemed like good options, and would hopefully be willing to get involved. Neither of them had any time for Flair or her flunkies, and apparently could both handle themselves in a fight. Alexa was an option, but she didn't seem like she would be much of a fighter. Maybe Shayna would be up for it. She damn sure looked tough. As yet, Tessa didn't know much about her. That was something to address in the coming days.

"You think you warned me off, Flair?" Tessa found herself thinking. "No way, not by a long shot. I'm going to bide my time, and I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to me today."

* * *

As it turned out, there wasn't much that Dr Baker could do to help Tessa, and she was back on B Block less than half an hour after leaving it. The doctor had diagnosed bruising and several cuts inside her vagina, none of which required anything more than time to heel. The only consolation for Tessa was that Baker had signed her off from work duty for a week, saying that she couldn't be expected to work while she was going to be in quite a bit of pain from the bruising.

"Stay in your cell and rest as much as you can," had been the advice that Tessa intended to ignore. Being excused from cleaning the bathroom for a week on half pay was welcome, but staying in her cell all day would likely drive her crazy.

Walking back onto the block, Tessa was faced with a surprise. She had been told that prisoners would be spending the day in their cells after the hour for leisure time, yet she found the lounge area still busy. "What's going on?" she asked Ms Rousey, who had brought her back from the medical unit.

"Governor Vega has reinstated B Block's full allowance of leisure time. That gives you three hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, and one after dinner. Personally, after yesterday's fighting, I'd have kept you all on punishment for the rest of the week."

"I'm sure you would," Tessa said dryly. Having spotted Alexa sitting at a table with Nikki, she set off in that direction, walking away from Rousey without another word.

"Hi. Are you okay?" Nikki asked with concern, in her thick Scottish accent.

"I will be," Tessa told her, giving her a smile as a token of appreciation for her concern. "Alexa, can we talk?" It was perfectly obvious that the words in private were implied at the end of the request.

"Sure. I'll leave you to it," Nikki said, starting to get up.

"No, you're okay," Alexa told her. "We'll go and talk in the cell."

Tessa picked up on the phrasing. Apparently Alexa shared a cell as well as a job with Nikki.

Alexa left the table and started heading towards the stairs, with Tessa walking beside her. Tessa recalled that she had been told the first floor prisoners were people serving life sentences. She couldn't imagine what Alexa might have done to get herself put away for good. For now, it didn't really matter.

"What did the doctor say? You're not walking too good," Alexa said sympathetically.

"I'm in quite a bit of pain. There's bruising from what Charlotte did, and there are some cuts. Baker couldn't do much to help me really, but she did sign me off from work for a week. Basically I'm supposed to rest while the bruising comes out and heals."

"I'm so pissed off that you went through that," Alexa said.

"Let's wait until we're in your cell," Tessa said. There were plenty of prisoners around, with Charlotte, Bayley and Sasha being notable exceptions. They were probably lying low somewhere after what they had done. Tessa could imagine them laughing about it, and that made her even more angry.

Shortly, Tessa followed Alexa into her cell. Depressingly, but unsurprisingly, it was exactly the same as the one she shared with Sonya.

"I can't stop thinking about finding you in that awful situation," Alexa said as Tessa closed the cell door.

"I'm glad you came when you did. Actually, Alexa, I've been asking myself why you were there? I was expecting to be stuck there until Sonya returned."

"I was upset," Alexa admitted quietly. "You said we could meet up for a chat, then you didn't show. I was thinking you weren't interested, and it hurt."

Tessa thought Alexa was being a bit full on with the crush she had. They had barely started getting to know each other, yet she was acting a bit clingy. "I'm interested. I just don't want to rush into anything. If those bitches hadn't attacked me, I was going to come and find you once I had gotten changed."

Alexa smiled. It sure was a gorgeous smile, Tessa thought. "We can have our talk now, then. Shall we sit down?" Alexa moved over to the bunks and sat on the bottom one.

"I'd like to know more about you," Tessa said as she sat down beside her.

"And I'd like to tell you. I will tell you. Before that, though, I think we should talk about what we're going to do about Flair."

"What we're going to do?" Tessa asked, emphasising the plural.

A look of hatred appeared on Alexa's face, directed at Charlotte. "She's been making everyone's lives miserable on this block forever. Everyone apart from the Four Horsewomen, of course. The guards do nothing either, because she's fucking Ambrose."

"Flair and Ambrose?" Tessa said, her face wrinkling up in distaste.

"Ambrose is as corrupt as they come. He gets his dick wet and sneaks stuff in for her, and in return she makes life hell for everyone he doesn't like."

"Me, for example," Tessa said. "Ambrose already threatened me last night. He turned my cell over, too."

"Bastard," Alexa snarled. "You know, I wouldn't be shocked if he was behind what happened to you today."

"Trust me, I already thought that," Tessa said, feeling her blood starting to boil.

"That's one of the reasons I'm so glad you're here. Yes, I have a crush on you. I already admitted that. But also, me and some others have a lot of hope invested in you. You can be the one to stand up to the Horsewomen. We all know what a badass you were on the outside. You're the person we've needed on this block."

Tessa didn't know how to feel about that. Wanting to oust Charlotte and become B Block's top dog was one thing, being relied on by others to get it done was quite another. Still, after the attack she had been subjected to, she was going to do everything she could to make Charlotte pay, there was no doubt about that.

"I'm going to take her on, Alexa," Tessa vowed. "After what she did today, I'm going to do my damn best to make her pay. What I have learned is that I can't do it by myself. There are four of them and only one of me. So, who are the people you mentioned who want to help?"

"Sonya, Mandy, Shayna, and me. With you leading us, that makes five of us to their four."

Tessa nodded slowly, happy with what she was hearing. "That sounds good to me. I'll speak to them, and we'll start putting a crew together."

"I'm with you one hundred per-cent, no matter what," Alexa pledged.

"That's good, thank you," Tessa smiled. For now, there was nothing more to discuss on that subject. It was time to get down to what was supposed to have been the original point of them sitting down to talk. "So, Alexa, tell me about yourself."


	9. Chapter 9

Talking with Alexa had helped to take Tessa's mind off the ordeal she had suffered earlier in the day, albeit with the pain still there doing its best to remind her of it. They had chatted about both of their childhoods, neither of which had been particularly pleasant, before moving on to talking about Tessa's time in the Marines, her transition to becoming a con artist and diamond thief when she left the military, and her eventual arrest.

"So, what about you?" Tessa asked eventually. "I don't even know what you're in here for, let alone the story behind it."

"I'm in for life, for murder, like you," Alexa said sadly. "In my case it's bullshit. I was an escort on the outside, a good one at that. People paid a lot of money to hire me. The only downside was that from time to time clients would try and step over the boundaries of what had been agreed for their booking. One night, this fat, sweaty, balding, pig ugly guy called Paul Heyman hired me to go to dinner with him. We ended up back at him place, and he started talking about wanting me to do some weird kinky shit with him. I told him no, saying that his booking was over. I made to leave, but her grabbed me and threw me onto the bed. Repeatedly, I told him to get off me, then I said if he tried to rape me, I was going to hurt him. That seemed to enrage him, and before I knew what was going on, he had his hands around my throat." Alexa's voice trailed off. She was obviously traumatised by the memory of someone trying to strangle her to death.

Tessa took Alexa's hand and squeezed it. "Shit, Alexa, that must have been terrifying," she breathed.

"It was. Luckily for me, there was a glass of water on the nightstand. I was able to reach it. I broke it on the nightstand. By that point, my vision was going dark. It wouldn't have been long before I passed out, which would obviously have meant he would've finished the job and killed me. I stabbed him in the side of the neck with the broken glass. All I wanted was to get him off me, but it must have cut one of his arteries. There was blood spraying everywhere. I mean, literally everywhere. It was up the walls, on the floor, all over me, everywhere. He died within moments, or so it seemed. I called the police and told them what had happened. They came to the house, and when they got there, they arrested me. I couldn't believe it."

"Let me guess, they knew you were an escort, so they didn't believe your story about what happened. Those bastards looked at it like, 'The whore has to be a liar.'"

"Exactly that," Alexa said sadly. "From beginning to end, they were determined to put me away for murder, and that's what they managed to do. I got life on a majority guilty verdict. Two years I've been in this shit hole, for literally no reason. I wanted to appeal, but my attempt was rejected. I'm hoping to get released for good behaviour. My lawyer thinks I could do as little as ten years. That was how he put it. I can't say that having ten years of my life stolen from me seems like anything 'little' if I'm honest."

"I'm truly sorry," Tessa said, squeezing the hand again. Alexa had sounded like she was about to cry. To her own surprise, Tessa wasn't far behind her. It was a heart-breaking story. "The justice system in this country is fucked. I'm not talking about my case. I own what I did, with no regrets. But people like you, and so many others, get a raw deal, with nothing ever being done about it. They won't even let you appeal. Disgusting."

"It is," Alexa said, looking down at the floor. After a moment, she looked back up, made eye contact with Tessa and managed an appreciative smile. "Thank you for listening to me. It helps to have someone to talk to."

"You're welcome," Tessa smiled back. "I thought you had Nikki to talk to, though? You share a cell and a job, right?"

Alexa nodded, not looking overly enthused about it. "We do. Don't get me wrong, I like Nikki, she's just a bit slow. Her heart is in the right place. Pouring my heart out to her isn't something I would want to do. But with you, it feels different."

That's because you have a huge crush on me, Tessa thought. "I'm glad you feel like you can talk to me. I want you to be able to talk to me."

"Thank you, I..." Suddenly, Alexa burst into tears. Talking about her situation had apparently been too much for her.

"Hey, hey, come here," Tessa said soothingly, pulling Alexa into a hug. The smaller woman ended up with her head resting on Tessa's chest, crying like someone who had been trying to hold her emotions behind a wall for a very long time, only for the wall to eventually give way. Her arms went around Tessa, holding onto her as tightly as possible.

Tessa didn't know to say. There was no point in offering some generic bullshit like telling Alexa it was going to be okay. It wasn't going to be okay. It already wasn't okay. She decided that the best thing she could probably do was simply hold Alexa, being there for her in her time of need.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life in here," Alexa wailed.

"Neither do I," Tessa said quietly, rubbing Alexa's back in what she hoped would work as a soothing gesture. Tessa knew that no matter what, she would be spending the rest of her days in prison. There would be no appeal, and there certainly would be no early release."

Alexa cried for a minute or so before she managed to get control of herself. "Shit, I'm sorry," she said, pulling back from the embrace and wiping her eyes.

"You don't have to apologise," Tessa said compassionately. "I only wish there was something I could say or do to make things better for you."

"You've listened to me. That means more than I can say, believe me."

The cell's door opened at that moment, intruding on the conversation. In that split second, Tessa prepared herself to jump up and fight, picturing Charlotte Flair looming over her with the candy tube. But it wasn't Charlotte who walked in, it was the huge guard called Reigns.

"Blanchard, I'm glad I found you. Governor Vega wants to see you," he said, speaking authoritatively, but not unpleasantly. He then noticed the tearful state that Alexa was in. "Alexa? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mr Reigns," Alexa said, wiping her eyes again. "I was telling Tessa my story, and it got a bit much for me. She was comforting me."

"Oh, okay. We need to go, but I can have Ms Rousey come and speak to you if you need her?" Reigns said, showing some sympathy.

Wow, she has Rousey as her personal officer, Tessa thought, counting herself lucky that she had gotten a better draw with Evans.

"I'll be okay," Alexa said.

"Alright," Reigns said. "Let's go, Blanchard, the Governor is waiting."

"I don't have anything to speak to her about," Tessa said, refusing to get up off the bunk.

"Well she has something to talk to you about, so move," Reigns replied, his patience starting to wear thin.

"I'm going to refuse to say anything to her, so there's no point," Tessa said obstinately.

Reigns sighed impatiently. "Two minutes from now, you're either going to be in the Governor's office or you're going to be in solitary for a week. Your choice."

"Tessa," Alexa said, using her expression to encourage her to cooperate.

"Fine," Tessa relented. Getting off the bed, she made sure to look as unenthusiastic as possible.

Reigns said nothing, waiting for her to go ahead of him out of the cell. Once they were outside on the landing, he closed the door behind them. "For someone with a military background, you're not very good at showing respect," he commented as they started walking towards the stairs.

"I was good at showing respect to superior officers. You're just a prison guard," Tessa said icily.

"Ms Evans is a prison guard. I know you showed her respect."

"She was a marine before she apparently went down the wrong path."

"Yes, she should have been out there shooting police officers," Reigns said dryly.

Tessa had to concede that one to him because she didn't have a comeback. She stayed silent for the rest of the slow, painful walk to the Governor's office. "Twice in the same day, aren't I lucky?" she muttered under her breath when Reigns knocked on the door and opened it.

"Tessa Blanchard, ma'am," Reigns announced, showing her in.

Tessa walked into the office, finding Governor Vega sitting behind her desk again.

"Have a seat, Tessa," Vega instructed.

"I'd rather stand," Tessa said, merely for the sake of being awkward.

"I don't give a shit what you'd rather, I said sit down," Vega snapped as Reigns closed the door, standing just inside it.

So, you do have something about you, Tessa thought, maintaining hostile eye contact with Vega while she sat down.

"I read Dr Baker's report, and I spoke to Ms Rousey," Vega said. "You refused to tell her anything about who attacked you. I want you to tell me everything, because that's the only way we can take any action against the person or persons responsible."

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Tessa asked, showing the amount of respect that she thought Vega deserved, which was none.

"You don't want the people who attacked you to be punished?" Vega asked. She broke eye contact for a moment to idly fiddle with one of her perfectly manicured finger nails.

"You know what I don't want? I don't want to wake up one morning with a pillow over my face. I don't want to be in the shower one day and have someone come up behind me and slit my throat. You can keep me in here all afternoon and try whatever persuasion or bullying tactics you like, I'm not going to be snitching on anyone."

Vega didn't like what she was being told, much less the way she was being spoken to. "You've got a bad attitude, Blanchard, you know that?"

"So Mr Reigns was telling me."

"We're going to discipline that out of you here at Stamford."

"I'm scared," Tessa said mockingly.

"If it wasn't for Dr Baker's report saying you need to rest in your cell to nurse your injuries, I'd have you in solitary for this little display you're putting on."

Tessa decided enough was enough. She enjoyed pushing Vega's buttons, but she didn't want her to end up thinking to hell with Baker's report and sending her to solitary anyway. She wanted to be on B Block, where she could speak to Sonya and Mandy, and start making plans. "Don't speak to me like an idiot, I won't speak to you like someone who's speaking to me like an idiot," she said, making a small attempt to diffuse the situation.

Vega also backed down a little. "All I want is to punish the people who assaulted you. It was a serious crime."

"Like I said, I'm not going to snitch. I have nothing to say. Can I go now? I'm in a lot of pain here."

Vega didn't look best pleased, but she looked at Reigns and gestured towards the door with her head. It was a signal to take Tessa back to B Block.

Without another word, Tessa stood up and left the office, thinking that if three months went by before she saw the Governor again, it would still be too soon.


	10. Chapter 10

"Well, today has been a day," Tessa quipped as she walked back into her cell that evening. Despite the attitude she was trying to pull off, there was no hiding the pain that walking was causing her.

"You okay?" Sonya asked, lying on her bunk with her head propped up on one arm. "That's a stupid question, isn't it? Alexa told me what happened."

"I'm hurting," Tessa admitted. "Flair taught me a lesson, I have to say. I showed up and got right in her face. If it was just me and her, I could have dealt with her no problem."

"But she has those other three bitches with her," Sonya said, grimacing.

"Exactly. All four of the fuckers came at me at once. I had no chance."

"At least you fucked one of them up. Word is Becky is in such bad shape they're going to have to ship her out to a proper hospital. What the hell did you do?"

"Just one punch," Tessa said, grinning smugly. "It turned her lights out the instant it hit her, and she properly faceplanted the floor. I saw her in the medical unit when I was in there earlier. Her nose was smashed, and I wouldn't be surprised if her jaw's broken too."

"At least one positive came out of it then," Sonya said, showing a hint of a smile.

Tessa considered talking about her plan to put a crew together to take on the Four Horsewomen. She decided not to, yet. So much had happened, yet she had only been in Stamford for a day. Sonya, Mandy, and to some extent Alexa, were still strangers to her. There was no real reason for them to want to join her in a task, much less accept her leadership over them. No, it was time to stop being bullish and play things smarter. It was time to move at a slower pace, putting a plan together to topple those who were currently in power when the time was right. For now, the task at hand was getting up to the top bunk.

Wincing and groaning in pain, Tessa made her way up there. She hoped the bruising that she had sustained in the attack wouldn't hurt for long. Logic suggested that it would be worse when she woke up in the morning because by then the bruising would have fully developed.

"So, Alexa seems quite smitten with you," Sonya commented, no judgement in her tone. If anything, she sounded like she found it kind of cute.

Tessa lay down and made herself as comfortable as possible before answering. "Yeah, I think she has a crush," she said eventually, playing down the beginnings of a connection between her and Alexa that had formed earlier. It was no one else's business.

Outside, the sound of cell doors being slammed shut for the night had been coming closer. Guard Young appeared in the doorway. "Goodnight, ladies," she said before pulling the door shut.

"Night, miss," Sonya said.

Tessa stubbornly didn't look at the guard or say anything. She was firmly of the opinion that any and all prison guards could go fuck themselves. "You actually like that bitch?" she asked Sonya grumpily.

"Ms Young is okay," Sonya said. "Most of them are assholes, but she's okay. She treats people with respect, not like lumps of dog shit that she's just stepped on."

Tessa gave a derisory grunt, not willing to accept that at all.

There was a couple of minutes of silence. Tessa lay there trying not to think about being in pain. But trying not to think about it was making her think about it.

"You have a lot of anger for the guards. Well, for authority as a whole, actually," Sonya said eventually. She was being inquisitive, not judgemental.

"Try walking a mile in my shoes," Tessa said, almost managing to stop herself sounding confrontational. "I've been mentally and physically abused by cops and prison guards since the day I was arrested. I've been beaten, spat on, cavity searched, had my possessions smashed up, you name it, they've done it to me."

"Cops assaulted you?" Sonya asked.

In a way, Tessa was glad that she was on a bunk above Sonya. It stopped her cellmate seeing the withering eye roll in response to the question. "I killed cops, Sonya. That's what they do to people who kill cops. The day they arrested me, two cops gave me a kicking in my cell."

"That's appalling," Sonya snarled.

"It didn't surprise me much. They're clever about how they do it, too. After they first took me in and processed me, I was taken for an interrogation. They video those things, so they treated me well before that, and during it. When the interrogation was over, that was when I got my beating. They also brought me coffee that had piss in it."

"What?" Sonya cried. "How do you know?"

"It didn't smell right. Since then I've been beaten a bunch of times. I've been cavity searched purely for the purpose of humiliating me. I've gone entire days without food because I was put in solitary and they 'forgot' to bring my meals. So, yeah, forgive me for not jumping on the Ms Young hype train. She's a prison guard, so she's a cunt."

"I can understand why you feel that way," Sonya said with some sympathy in her voice.

Talking about what she had been through had wound Tessa up to the point where she no longer wanted to talk to her cellmate. Instead, she lay there in silence, raging at her incarceration, the treatment she had received, and at Charlotte Flair. One day, Flair was going to get all of that anger taken out on her.

* * *

The next morning, Tessa felt in a slightly better mood, even though the pain coming from between her legs was even greater than it had been the night before, as expected. The reason for her improvement in mood was simple – she was looking forward to seeing Alexa when she went for breakfast. It surprised Tessa to find herself thinking like that. It made her wonder if there really might be a chance of something happening between them. There was no doubt that Alexa was fully hot, and she seemed like a nice, if clingy, person.

Taking a shower was the first thing prisoners had to do every day. Standing under the water, Tessa was again thankful for its warmth. In that respect, Stamford was so much better than the previous prison she had been in. Small mercies were something to be grateful for, she supposed.

"How are you feeling today?" a voice whispered into Tessa's ear. It made her jump, and sent a chill down her spine, for it belonged to Charlotte Flair.

"I've been better," Tessa said, trying to play it cool. Turning around and beating the fuck out of her enemy was tempting, but it was not a good idea. Bayley and Sasha were probably nearby, ready to step in. The odds were that no one would do the same for her, meaning that she would end up back in the medical unit.

"Good," Charlotte breathed. Her right hand cupped Tessa's right breast and gently massaged it. "Now you just remember your place, and I won't have to teach you any more lessons."

Tessa said nothing, and refused to react to being groped. She was resigned to stepping back from confrontation for now, but that didn't mean she was going to humiliate herself by grovelling. In any case, Charlotte backed away. Tessa let out a small sigh of relief. She could still feel Charlotte's hand on her breast. It brought back the image of the tall, sadistic blonde looming over her while she had been taped to the bunk bed. One thing couldn't be denied: Charlotte was good at intimidating people. It actually suited Tessa's purposes to act like she was intimidated, though. If Charlotte's attention went away from her, so much the better for her long term plan.

Trying to get her mind off Charlotte, Tessa finished her shower. As she was drying off, Bayley came sidling over to her. Tessa had been warned about her two-faced nature, and it was immediately apparent that this encounter was going to be in that vein. Neither Charlotte nor Sasha were around, so Bayley had apparently decides the coast was clear to risk being sly.

"Listen, I'm sorry that had to happen to you," Bayley said, doing a good job of looking and sounding sympathetic as she referred to the previous day's attack. At no point did Tessa believe a word of it.

"You didn't look sorry at the time."

"Look, Tessa, Charlotte runs this place. The Four Horsewomen run this place. You go around making threats, things like that have to happen. We're going to have to work together, so I just wanted to come over and say that so long as you get yourself in line, I'll put in a good word for you and get Charlotte to leave you alone."

I should gouge your fucking eyes out you slimy piece of shit, Tessa thought. Nonetheless, she nodded. "Understood."

"Alright then," Bayley said, satisfied.

I'm going to enjoy taking all of those bitches down, Tessa thought as Bayley walked away, leaving her to get dried off and dressed.

Shortly, Tessa was leaving the shower block. It was time to head to the dining area for breakfast. At least there was the prospect of briefly seeing Alexa to look forward to.

Walking out into the hallway, Tessa sucked in a deep breath. "Great," she muttered to herself. As if Charlotte trying to intimidate her and Bayley being two-faced hadn't been enough, now Mr Ambrose was standing against the wall up ahead. She had no misconceptions about getting by him without attracting his attention.

Sure enough, Ambrose fixed his eyes on her and smirked nastily when she drew near. "You're walking a bit funny. Looks like you've had a good fucking or something."

"So it was you," Tessa stated, not that it was any real surprise. "You got her that duct tape, and you made sure there were no guards around while she attacked me."

"Those cops you shot? Their families are going to spend the rest of their lives in pain," he said, ignoring her. "If I have anything to do with it, so are you. It's what you deserve."

Tessa denied the bastard the satisfaction of having her reply to him. Instead, she walked off in the direction of the dining area. It was becoming more apparent that Charlotte Flair and the Four Horsewomen were not the only ones who were going to have to go. Ambrose would have to go too, if she ever truly wanted to be the top dog on B Block. He would never allow it on his watch, that was obvious. It was also obvious that dealing with a guard was a totally different prospect to getting rid of the Horsewomen. There was a lot of thinking to be done.


	11. Chapter 11

After breakfast, with no work duty to report to, Tessa had been sent back to her cell. It was fine with her, since she was in too much pain to work out, which was how she would ideally have wanted to spend the free time.

As her pain refused to subside, so did her anger. Internally, she raged at Charlotte, Bayley, Ambrose, Vega, and everyone else who seemed to be lining up against her. Even the chance to enjoy a couple of minutes talking to Alexa while her breakfast was being served had been taken away from her by that colossal bitch Rousey, who had stood there at front of the line, barking at people to keep moving.

"Move along! Come on, keep moving! Alexa, hurry up!"

Tessa could still hear it in her head, grating on her. "You're lucky I didn't move along and punch your lights out," she growled under her breath, lying on her bunk. In truth, it wasn't Rousey in particular who she wanted to take out her frustrations on. Ideally, it would be Charlotte Flair. Tessa could picture herself punching that bitch's face over and over, demolishing it until it became unrecognisable. It was what she deserved.

To Tessa's immense annoyance, the cell door opened. She readied herself to get off the bunk, thinking that if Ambrose walked in she was going to knock him the fuck out and ask questions later.

It wasn't Ambrose.

"How are you feeling today, Tessa?" Ms Evans asked as she walked into the cell, closing the door behind her.

"Hurting. Pissed off," Tessa reported, showing Evans the respect of sitting up and turning to face her without even thinking about it.

"Come down and talk to me," Evans said, making it a request, not an order. She sat down on the cell's only chair.

"Alright," Tessa said grumpily. Climbing down off the top bunk made her groan in pain.

"Sounds like it hurts. I'm really sorry you went through that horrific experience."

"Who told you about it?" Tessa asked. Reaching the floor, she sat down on the edge of Sonya's bunk.

"It was discussed in the morning briefing this morning. Besides, as your personal officer, I'm told about anything that happens with you when I come on my shift. I know you refused to tell Dr Baker or Ms Vega who was responsible for assaulting you."

Tessa sighed wearily. "Are we really going to fucking go through this again? Ms Evans, you're not an idiot. I know that because you were a marine. You wouldn't have gotten in if you were an idiot. I'm not going to snitch on anyone. You know as well as I do that being a snitch is pretty much as bad as being someone who's in here for fucking or killing kids. That's not a position I want to be in, so save me the sermon, because I'm not telling you anything."

"I wasn't going to ask you to tell me who attacked you," Evans said calmly. "I was going to ask you how you're feeling."

"How do you think I'm feeling?" Tessa snapped, feeling her temper coming close to fraying. "I was tied up and violated with a massive candy tube. I have cuts and bruising that are really fucking painful."

Evans' expression and tone continued to remain calm. "I'm sorry to hear that, Tessa. What about mentally? How are you feeling mentally?"

She's damn good at her job, Tessa found herself thinking. Evans' demeanour was having a calming effect on her too. Maybe she had some training as a therapist or something.

"I know you don't want to show weakness in front of Sonya or the other inmates," Evans continued. "You came in here with a big reputation. You don't want to show that you're struggling, or that your experience has traumatised you. But you can talk to me about it. As your personal officer, you can always tell me how you're feeling, in confidence if you choose to."

"What do you mean in confidence?" Tessa asked warily.

"I don't have to put everything you tell me in my reports. I mean, if you told me who attacked you, although I know you won't, I would have to report that. But if you want to talk to me in confidence about what's on your mind without it going back to Vega or anyone else, you can."

"Are you bullshitting me right now? Don't bullshit me," Tessa combatively.

"I'm not bullshitting you. I want you to talk to me about how you feel, so that I can try to help you."

The remarkable thing was that Tessa actually believed her. Maybe, just maybe, talking to her personal officer would help. After all, that was why prisoners were assigned a personal officer. Enemies were starting to pile up against her, both prisoners, guards, and possibly Governor Vega too. It wasn't a good situation to be in, and as a marine, Tessa knew that someone having your back could make a hell of a big difference when the going was tough.

"Alright, I'll trust you," Tessa decided. "I'm in pain, I'm angry, and I'm frustrated. I'm actively having to stop myself lashing out at someone."

"Why are you so angry? Apart from the attack, of course."

"Being treated like shit by guards. They're all assholes, apart from you."

"Who has been an asshole to you?" Evans asked, still speaking in the same calm manner.

"Ambrose, Rousey, Reigns. Vega was a bitch, too."

"Were they assholes to you, or were you rude to them? Because Mr Reigns might not look like it, but he's a nice guy. Ms Rousey is strict, but she's fair. I don't believe either of them have treated you badly without provocation."

"She gave me a cavity search for no reason. And she handcuffed me to the bed in the medical unit."

"Procedures, Tessa. Every prisoner gets a cavity search when they arrive here, whether you want to believe it or not. And anyone who ends up in medical with someone they have issues with gets handcuffed to the bed. Ms Rousey is not victimising you."

"Who's side are you on?" Tessa demanded. "All you're doing is telling me I'm wrong."

"Because you are wrong, Tessa," Evans explained patiently. "I'm on your side. That's why I'm going to give you some advice that you would do well to listen to. Despite what you're possibly expecting, the guards here will not hold the fact that you killed cops against you. What they will hold against you is you treating them with contempt and a lack of respect. If you want to start having a better time in here, you need to help yourself. You don't have to like any of the guards, but it would be better for everyone if you improved your attitude."

Tell that to Ambrose, Tessa thought. "Fine," she replied sulkily.

The victory of sorts seemed important to Evans, who smiled. "Now, let's talk about your free time. Sitting in here looking at these four walls isn't going to do you any favours. I know you have a job, but you should also take a class, or get a hobby."

Academia was of no interest to Tessa. A hobby, though, was a good idea. Ms Evans was right in saying that having too much idle time in the cell was not good from a mental point of view. "What hobbies are there to do?"

"Once you've been here longer and established yourself as trustworthy, there are things like gardening and woodworking that you might be able to apply for. For now, of the limited options available to you, I recommend getting into reading. There's an excellent library here at Stamford."

Tessa gave the guard a look that asked if she was serious. "Reading? You want me to spend my time reading books?"

"There's nothing wrong with reading. It's good exercise for the mind, and I think that would be good for someone like you. You're a very intelligent person. Your service record and your criminal record are both testament to that. You should at least check out the library."

Before Tessa could consider the suggestion, the cell door opened. Alexa shyly walked in. "Oh, sorry," she said upon seeing Ms Evans.

What a sight for sore eyes, Tessa thought. Ms Evans had done her best to help her calm down, but by simply walking into the cell Alexa had already come closer to achieving it.

"Come in, Alexa," Tessa said, smiling. She looked at Evans. "Can Alexa sit with me?"

"She can," Evans said, getting up. "I'll leave you to it. But consider the library, alright?"

Tessa nodded, supposing there was no harm in at least going to see what the library had to offer. For now, it was a long way down her list of priorities. "How come you're free to come here?" she asked Alexa as Ms Evans left the cell, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Because Nikki and I have to get up early to cook breakfast, we get free time once we've cleaned up, while everyone else is at work. I knew you were signed off from work, so I figured I would find you here. Can I sit down?" Alexa asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

It was clear that Alexa wanted to sit on the bunk next to Tessa, not in the chair. It seemed clingy, but that was starting not to come as a surprise. "Sure," Tessa said, moving over to one side.

"How are you feeling? I was thinking about you last night, and this morning," Alexa said as she sat down.

"Hurting more than I was yesterday, but feeling better for seeing you." As soon as the words left Tessa's mouth, she froze, not knowing where they had come from.

Alexa looked mind-blown by what she had just heard. "You... You mean that?"

I can hardly say no, it would devastate her, Tessa thought. "Yeah, I mean it. I didn't intend to blurt it out like that. It's just, I don't know, you're the one thing that makes this place bearable. That didn't sound like the compliment I intended it to be."

"I'll take it as a compliment," Alexa said, offering a smile that was truly beautiful.

There was an awkward moment of silence, neither of them knowing what to say next.

"Was Ms Evans trying to get you to tell her who attacked you?"

Tessa shook her head. "No. She was trying to help me get my mind off of everything that has happened. She wants me to take up reading as a hobby. Can you believe that?" she asked, mocking the idea even though she didn't really think it was that bad, deep down.

"There's nothing wrong with reading," Alexa said cautiously, clearly wanting to avoid a disagreement, even as she disagreed. "Ms Rousey got me interested in it. I've been reading history books for a few months. It has really broadened my horizons. There aren't many things that can do that for you in here. Why don't we both go to the library together later? Maybe it will keep your mind off all the horrible stuff?"

That might not be the worst idea, Tessa thought. If nothing else, it would be a way to spend more time with Alexa. And who knew, maybe reading really would prove to be a fulfilling hobby? If it had proven to be so for Alexa, that meant something. "Alright, Alexa, we can be bookworms together," she announced.

"Yay!" Alexa cried, acting like she had been invited to a prom or something.

"Do they have books on how to deal with horsewomen?"

"No. But they do have peace, quiet and privacy for us to make plans to deal with horsewomen."

Tessa gave the biggest smile she could remember. "Now we're talking."


	12. Chapter 12

"Here's the library," Alexa said.

Tessa chose to be tactful and avoid any sarcasm about the plaque on the door with the word 'Library'. Alexa was sweet enough, she just seemed to babble a bit without thinking about what she was saying. The crush probably made her do it.

Following Alexa inside, Tessa saw that the library was about as uninspiring as she had expected it to be. The books were contained on drab grey metal bookshelves. There was a wooden desk on the far side of the room with a computer workstation for the librarian. The inmate working the desk wasn't someone from B Block, she didn't think. It wasn't a huge surprise, as inmates from all three blocks could have library privileges if their behaviour was good enough.

Several small round wooden tables were arranged around the room for inmates to sit and read at, with uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs that were bolted to the floor. At one of the tables, a blonde inmate sat with her back to the door. At another, there were two more inmates who Tessa didn't know. Apart from them, the only other person in the room was guard Rousey, standing with her back against the wall near the librarian's station. Upon seeing the new arrivals, she came walking over, stern-faced as ever.

"Hello, Alexa. Ready to continue your studies?" the guard asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Alexa said, showing respect for her personal officer. "I've brought Tessa along. She wants to start reading too."

"Is that so? What interests you, Blanchard?"

"Uh, I don't know. I haven't thought about it," Tessa said awkwardly, put on the spot by the question.

"You were a marine, weren't you? I could start you on the studies of World War Two that Alexa has been doing?"

"I find it very interesting, so I'm sure you would," Alexa said, using her tone to try and encourage Tessa into it.

"Maybe. Can I take a look around at the books before I decide?" Tessa asked.

"Sure," Rousey said. "But Blanchard? No noise, no attitude, and no disruption. Any of that, this will be your one and only library visit, is that clear?"

"Yes," Tessa said. She had to admit that the warning was fair. After all, she had made a point of giving Rousey grief since the moment she had arrived in Stamford.

"Okay, have a look and see if anything appeals to you. Alexa, come with me. Today, you're going to read about the start of Operation Barbarossa."

Tessa watched the two women walk over to a table, finding it odd that Alexa enjoyed studying the war, and even odder that Rousey seemed to like the role of history teacher.

It was time to consider what to read herself. Tessa looked around the library, reading the categories that were displayed on the ends of the metal bookshelves. Biographies seemed like it might be a section worth checking out. Next to it was Science, which she most certainly wasn't interested in.

Heading over there took Tessa past the table where the blonde woman was sitting, looking down at a book that she was engrossed in.

"Oh, hey," Tessa heard just after she walked by the table. She turned back around and saw that it was Mandy Rose who had quietly spoken to her.

"Oh, hi, Mandy. I didn't recognise you there. Alexa has talked me into focusing my mind on reading. Looks like you're doing the same."

"Yeah. I'm glad they have science books here, even if they're selective on what they let us read. I guess that's understandable. They hardly want to be teaching people how to make bombs."

"Science is your thing?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mandy laughed, still keeping quiet. "Sonya hasn't told you what I'm in here for, I see."

"No, she hasn't." Tessa sat down at the table to make the conversation easier.

"I'm a chemist. I worked in a meth lad. To be more specific, I was in charge of a meth lab. My product was very highly sought after. I'd even worked out a way to give it a gold tint, so it was unique and instantly recognisable. I was making so much money it was unreal."

"So what went wrong?"

"The FBI, that's what went wrong. They raided the factory where the lab was hidden, and it turned out it wasn't hidden well enough. I was there with my assistant, right in the middle of a cook."

"Ouch," Tessa grimaced. "The person you were working for couldn't help you?"

"She did help me, as much as she could. But she also had to pull a lot of strings to keep her own ass out of prison. I understand that, and I don't have a problem with her. I got twelve years. It could have been half that if I had ratted."

"Did you consider it?" Tessa asked.

"No," Mandy said firmly. "Besides ratting being a garbage thing to do, it would have gotten me killed. A six year sentence is no good if you're dead within six weeks. No, I'm going to serve my time, hopefully get out early, and go back to doing what I do best."

"There's nothing like justice system rehabilitation," Tessa said sarcastically.

"Right?" Mandy grinned. "So, while I'm in here I keep myself interested in science. After all, there's not much else to do."

"When Sonya's not around," Tessa added.

"Yeah," Mandy smiled.

"There is something I could say that would give you something to think about."

"Oh?" Mandy asked, looking at her with interest.

"I'm going to tone it down for a while after what happened with Charlotte, but make no mistake about it, I am going to take her down, along with those other three bitches. I'd like you and Sonya to join me in the fight. Alexa is in, and I'm hoping Shayna will be too. I'm yet to talk to her about it, admittedly, but Alexa thinks she will come in."

"Sonya mentioned you wanted to deal with them. While I'm not against the idea, you need to understand the task ahead of you. Those four a dug in like tics in this place. Charlotte is especially. She's got Ambrose in her pocket."

"That's not where I heard she has him," Tessa said mischievously, drawing a laugh from Mandy.

"Blanchard! Either get something to read or get out," Rousey said with annoyance.

"Sorry," Tessa said, quickly getting up from the table. "Are you in?" she asked Mandy.

"I'll talk to Sonya and we'll let you know."

"Where is she anyway?" Tessa asked.

"Visitation. Her sister."

Rousey got up from where she had been sitting with Alexa. "Okay, Blanchard, that's it. Out!"

"No, don't throw me out," Tessa said, showing deference to Rousey for the first time. "I was coming over to you. I'd like to start the history course that Alexa is doing, if course is the right word for it."

"Are you trying to play with me, Blanchard?" Rousey demanded.

"No, ma'am," Tessa said seriously. What she actually wanted was to take Alexa's advice and try to learn something. She figured that if they were reading the same subject, it would also give them something to talk about.

Rousey actually seemed something like pleased. Miracles were possible, it seemed. "Okay then. To start studying World War Two, you need to study the end of World War One. The peace treaty signed at the end of that war was a big factor in the start of the next one. Come with me, I'll find something to get you started."

* * *

"Hey," Tessa said to Sonya when she entered the cell before dinner. Tessa was lying on her bunk.

"Hey," Sonya replied cheerfully as the door was closed behind her. "How are you doing? Much pain?"

"Some," Tessa admitted. "Climbing up here wasn't the easiest thing in the world. You won't guess what I've been doing."

"You set fire to Vega's office?" Sonya guessed.

Tessa laughed. "I wish. No, I've been in the library. Alexa talked me into trying reading as a hobby. Imagine my surprise when I found out Rousey likes playing history teacher. Apparently sticking her fingers up me isn't the only thing she enjoys after all."

Sonya lay down on her bunk. That was how they were getting used to talking to each other - both on their bunks, with no eye contact at all. "That's good, though. I mean, it's good that you're finding something to keep you busy. Mandy likes reading, too."

"Yes, I know. She was there, actually. I talked to her for a couple of minutes. Never would have believed she was a meth cook if she hadn't told me herself."

"Right?" Sonya laughed. "You imagine some sweaty old man doing it, not someone who looks like Mand. She's really, really smart with all the science stuff she knows. Puts me to shame, that's for sure."

"We all have our talents," Tessa said, trying to encourage her not to talk herself down.

"I'm good at fighting," Sonya said. "I used to do it to make some extra cash on top of my crappy minimum wage job."

"That's interesting," Tessa said brightly. "People who can fight are exactly what I need. I was talking to Mandy earlier about putting a group of people together to take down the Four Horsewomen. She said she would talk to you about it and let me know."

Sonya got up off her bunk and looked Tessa in the eye. "Girl, you need to calm down on this thing. I know what Charlotte did to you was horrific, and they deserve payback for it. But continually throwing yourself up against them is going to get you, and others, killed. Mandy isn't going to be one of those people."

"I understand your concern," Tessa said, sitting up. "But I'm not going to charge into anything. That lesson has already been learned the hard way, and Alexa told me the same thing. No, the way we take them out is to be smarter than them. We do it one by one, and we do it meticulously. We do it in a way that none of the people on our side get hurt."

"That's a lofty idea. While it sounds good in theory, how are you going to make that happen?"

With a sigh, Tessa had to admit, "I don't know yet."


End file.
